I've been working on a website on my own xampp server on my computer with my own database and everything and so far it's been pretty smooth, surprisingly. Now I want to upload it to a host, and I found a free web host and I was able to upload the site through dreamweaver/ftp. I exported my DB into an SQL query and than ran that query on the live DB so that they would have the same data.
I'm curious, what's the best way to keep these DB's in sync?
1) In my header.php, I specify some connection variables for my local db and I have to make sure to change them when I upload header.php to the site so they have the correct connection variables for the remote db. Maybe if I had a file on my hosting server and a file on my local server that specified the connection information and just never messed with them?
2) If I change something in my local DB, I have to copy the SQL and run it in my remote one as well. Is there a good way to handle this?
Thanks again!
http://www.databasejournal.com/features/mysql/article.php/3355201/Database-Replication-in-MySQL.htm
For #1, you can either do that--the route most people take--or make the config file check the IP before loading server specific configuration. If the IP is 127.0.0.1, you load your development configuration. If it is the IP of the host, it loads a different config.
I personally do not know of a better way to handle #2. So, this answer will have to be incomplete.
1: Yes, create a config.php file with the server-specific information and include it when you need it. This is incredibly common and normal. Ideally, you can keep this file a little separate from your other files so that it's easy to grab all of your application files and copy them to the live server without also copying the config file. Keep a backup of your live config file somewhere, because one day you will overwrite it, and it's much better for your heart if you don't have to scramble to figure out what the live database password was.
2: There are some automated ways of handling this, but they're very complicated. What I usually do is create an empty text file named changes.sql or something. As I make changes to the dev database, I paste the CREATE TABLE and ALTER TABLE, etc. queries into the changes.sql file. This way I have one file with all the changes I need to make to the live server when I'm ready to update the live site. After I do the update, I save the changes.sql file somewhere and create a new empty file for the next changes.
More 2: You can also just do a dump of the whole dev database and copy it live. Most sites, though, have data on the live server that should not be destroyed or copied to dev - user information, orders, login tracking, user comments, whatever. So you generally do no not want to just replace all your live data with dev data.
I usually keep the template stuff separate from the db connection, global variable stuff, and session stuff with an include file like 'init.php' or 'config.php'. When you update your stuff, most likely you won't need to overwrite that file.
I use linux, so I use 'mysqldump' to get a .sql file, upload to server, then just upload 'mysql -u user -p databasename < database.sql'. It would be great if there was a quicker way that I don't know of.
Related
I'm helping a friend migrate her wordpress server to GoDaddy, and I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew... I've never migrated a wordpress before. This page here is the Wordpress wiki for moving Wordpress when your domain isn't changing. It doesn't seem to complex, but I'm terrified of accidentally ruining this website and I don't understand a couple of things on the wiki.
The Wiki says
If database and URL remains the same, you can move by just copying your files and database.
Does this mean that I can just log in to her server from Filezilla and copy all of the files on the server? What does database mean, is that something separate from the files on the server?
If database name or user changes, edit wp-config.php to have the correct values.
This sort of goes with my first question.. What initiates a database name or user change?
Apologies for my ignorance, but after an hour or so of searching around for these answers I'm left just as confused.
Last but not least, is there anything else I should be aware of when migrating a wordpress? I'm a little nervous..
You are going to need to migrate you instalation in two parts.
Part 1 you already eluded to. You will need to copy the files from one server to another. I am guessing you know how to do this so I will not dive any deeper into it. If you do need more explanation, please let me know and I will edit the question.
Part 2 is what you mentioned but said you did not understand. Copying the database of wp install. Wordpress runs off of PHP and MySQL. The "files" part in part 1 is the PHP files (along with some html and css). You need to log into his MySQL server and do an export of his database. You should be able to export the database (How to export mysql database to another computer?) and import it into his new server on GoDaddy. (Error importing SQL dump into MySQL: Unknown database / Can't create database).
Just take things slow, follow the guides that I have linked and do not delete anything from the first server until everything is working on the second. Please let me know if you do not understand anything.
if you don't feel confortable with database exports and imports, try using plugins like:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/duplicator/
or
http://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-move/
Check his docs for info.
Luck!
• A database is literally a data base. It's where websites (and other applications) store their data eg. For Wordpress, it would be data such as posts, user information etc.
If you are using a cPanel setup then you would need to get access to it and navigate to phpMyAdmin which is the GUI for managing a database.
Now I'm not sure what type of setup you're using but that should be a start.
• A database has a connection server address (usually localhost), a database name, username and password. These are setup at the time of setting up a database.
When migrating servers, you would need to update those details in the wp-config.php file (I think around line 19 or so).
• The annoying part about migrating Wordpress to another server is the domain change as you have to update the old domain with the new domain throughout the database. However since you're not changing domain names, it should be a smooth ride as long as the new server supports PHP and has a database.
So i just setup my Xampp Apache server to load all the documents i create on my Google Drive. For example if i type 127.0.0.1, it will show me all my web files on my Google Drive. I set this up so i can develop across my laptop which i use at school and my desktop which i use at home without having to copy files back and forth between computer to computer. This works the way i want it to but i forgot one thing. How am i supposed to sync my databases that i create. My question to you is how can i sync my databases to the cloud or somewhere else so i don't have to export and import every time i switch devices?
Also i would like to stay away from using hosting as i won't be online all the time.
The database server (the application itself) expects exclusive access to the data files. If you try to synchronize a data file between two systems, you're going to have issues and probably data loss.
What you could do is synchronize the data directory and make sure you're only running one server at a time. So when you're done working on the laptop, shut down the MySQL server process/service (mysqld), wait for it to finish synchronizing, and then start up the mysqld on the desktop. I suspect this will work, but it's a pretty non-standard usage so anything could happen.
To make it easier, I'd definitely consider writing a wrapper script/batch file that first tests for the presence of a lock file, then (if non exists) creates one, starts the mysqld, and when exiting make sure mysqld is stopped before deleting the lock file.
Anyway, to make this happen you would first stop mysqld everywhere, take the one mysql data directory that you wish to use, copy it to your Google Drive, then edit all of your MySQL configuration files to point to the new data directory instead of the old one. Whether XAMPP makes this more difficult than it should be, I'm not sure, but with stock MySQL it should be pretty trivial.
Remember that just because it's possible doesn't make it a good idea, and likewise that just because it's not a good idea doesn't make it won't work. So I'm saying it's not a good idea to do this, but if done with proper attention it will "probably" work.
Hope that helps.
So, I'm writing a php script which will be tied to a cron job that will backup my site's db on a regular basis. The db will get saved to a new sql file daily just incase anything unfortunate should happen to the live version. I am aware of how bad it would be for someone to be able to get a hold of one of these files, exposing both the db structure and user email addresses (passwords are encrypted).
I am not extraordinarily security savvy, and this is one of those things you HAVE to get right the first time around. I'm not to prideful to admit when it's best to ask for help so I figured I'd inquire with the trusted Stack Overflow community. (I realize it's likely there is a question similar to this somewhere, but I have been unable to find it).
What steps do I need to take to make sure these files can't be accessed? Note, it is an Apache server. Is it enough to store them in a directory outside of the root which is limited to group read/write (no public read)? Or is it necessary to password protect the directory or even encrypt the actual files? I'd really rather not if I don't have to (encrypt the files), it would just make it more of a pain to use them, but if it's needed...
Also relevant, access to these files is NOT being built into an application interface. I don't need or want to have them accessible by an http request. FTP only. So my question isn't regarding any password protection of a UI.
Thank you all so much for your time!
Storing on the server
If you must, store them outside of the web root and download them with something like rsync over ssh.
Best option (assuming you're running MySQL)
Don't store them on the server, but rather run a cron on your local machine and use ssh and MySQL to do the dump to your local system. That way there is no ominous file someone can have that contains all of your data (unless of course your local network is compromised).
Another option (again another example with MySQL)
You might also look into doing database replication with your local machine by setting up a local MySQL server.
Hello everyone I am pretty new to php. I am trying to create a back up of my sql database and I want the back up to run on php server at the click of a button. I found some templates the issues I am having and it may be due to the wrong templates are: On most of the templates I don't where I should enter the information that is needed to make it work, for ex( host, dbname) etc another issue is I don't know if that's the only part of the code that needs to be changed. If someone could help me find a backup template and tell me step by step how to get my database to export as a file I would greatly appreciate it!sq
Use exec function to call mysqldump, a backup utility program that's bundled with every MySQL database. Pass the folder you would like the file (it will be a .sql file) to be put, and you can simply download or ftp it from there.
A simpler option is to install PHPMyAdmin and you can use it to backup any database and table.
Hope this helps.
I've successfully made changes to my httpd.conf file in order to modify the DocumentRoot to my Dropbox folder. No longer does localhost point to /etc/www, but rather /home/Dropbox/www...
This is convenient because no matter which computer I'm on, the changes to my web files are synchronized, and Dropbox keeps a transparent versioning system in the background.
I'm wondering if it is also possible to store mySQL data (not necessarily the actual binaries) in my Dropbox folder. Data synchronization would be equivalently useful if this were possible. What kind of changes would one make to have databases, tables, and other user generated content pushed off to a Dropbox folder, rather than my local hard drive?
It is probably easier, and more reliable, to use a remote mysql database. Most web hosts offer mysql services, some even are free. Syncing mysql databases is a pain, no matter how you do it! If you start copying the data files themselves it is just waiting for corruption!
It is possible if you successfully can copy data folder of MySQL and point it to right there however you may encounter problems with the concurrency. That's not a recommended way. Why don't you use a version control system such as svn, git with a remote connections allowed MySQL server?
Databases get updated very frequently and dropbox will force it to update too frequently, but it will fail to sync sometimes and your connection will be wasted with DropBox updates. That's really not a good practice.
Sure you can, edit your my.cnf file and change datadir from what is was (perhaps /var/lib/mysql/) to /home/Dropbox/mysql...
Dropbox cannot handle file ownerships (and permissions), so if your original database file was owned by mysql:mysql, after every sync the owner would be youruser:yourgroup, the permissions set to 664 and the database would be read-only for mysql!
The solution is to add the user mysql to the group yourgroup, and then it works with 664 permissions and you don't have to manually change the ownerships back to mysql every time.