Switch URLs

[Mark Dawson]

For example below.

Community URL: https://www.domain-one.com/
Test URL: https://www.domain-two.com/

I wanted to switch the domain name from Test URL to Community URL
What is the procedure to accomplish this?
Those domain has a separate web hosting.
After I transfer all the files and database to the Test URL domain/hosting from Community URL what is my next step?

Thanks in advance.

[Makoto]

The main thing you need to do is update the board URL in the conf_global.php file located in the root of your installation. This will take care of most things for you.

If you have any custom domains set up in your file storage configurations (if you don't know, you probably don't), you'll need to update those as well.

 

EDIT: If this is just a domain for testing and not an actual domain migration, you can ignore everything below.

You'll also need to reset your license URL in the client area after the move.

Updating conf_global.php does not update any hard links to your old domain in posts or elsewhere within your community, so you'll want to set your old domain up to redirect to your new one to accommodate for this, and ideally keep it registered for at least 3 or so years to give everyone plenty of time to transition.

If you want to let the old domain expire, you'll probably want to have any links to your old domain replaced in posts and etc., which can be done with an SQL query and then updating your search index. But save this step for last and make sure everything else is working on the new domain first.

Edited March 21, 2023 by Makoto

[Mark Dawson]

16 minutes ago, Makoto said:

The main thing you need to do is update the board URL in the conf_global.php file located in the root of your installation. This will take care of most things for you.

If you have any custom domains set up in your file storage configurations (if you don't know, you probably don't), you'll need to update those as well.

 

EDIT: If this is just a domain for testing and not an actual domain migration, you can ignore everything below.

You'll also need to reset your license URL in the client area after the move.

Updating conf_global.php does not update any hard links to your old domain in posts or elsewhere within your community, so you'll want to set your old domain up to redirect to your new one to accommodate for this, and ideally keep it registered for at least 3 or so years to give everyone plenty of time to transition.

If you want to let the old domain expire, you'll probably want to have any links to your old domain replaced in posts and etc., which can be done with an SQL query and then updating your search index. But save this step for last and make sure everything else is working on the new domain first.

Thanks @Makoto My Test URL domain is a real domain. Why I am doing this because I lost access to my Community URL domain provider account which I'm not able to renew it, but still have access to cPanel. And yes I will can redirect it until the domain expired (Community URL).

[Makoto]

I'm sure you've already tried, but I would definitely keep trying to follow up with the provider your current domain is at to see if there's anything you can do to regain access to your account.

Outside of that, the steps above should take care of most everything you need to do to transfer.

When I'm back at my work machine I'll see if I can dig up the SQL query you can use to replace references to your old domain in posts and comments as well.