CiviCRM Community Forums (archive)

Hi everyone, I'm an absolute CiviCRM newbie so I apologize beforehand for lack of knowledge. I got hired at a place that uses CiviCRM, and they wanted me to upgrade it to the newest version (amongst other changes) and also move it over to WordPress. Problem is that they're still on 2.2.7, on Drupal. I've been searching and doing trial and error for a few days, but nothing's come of it. (I'm not that great with DBs either, took an intro class but it was a while ago.) I tried exporting the 2.2.7 DB and importing it into the 4.4.4 through phpmyadmin, but that broke it and I figure it was some compatibility issue (again, forgive my ignorance). I thought of exporting through the Civi interface itself but then I'm not sure if all the data we want to keep is transferable (contributions and activities specifically, since exporting contacts seems simple).

I guess I'm asking what the best way to transfer the data would be? Should I do it through phpmyadmin or is there a way to export contributions and activities (maybe not :/) through the interface and just upload it onto the new wp site?

Thank you for any help! I'd really appreciate it! (And please let me know if you need any more details about the installations, etc., and I'll try to provide them.)

Step 1: backup backup backup your database!
Step 2: try upgrading slowly. For example, download version 3.0 and try upgrading to that. Keep going in small increments.
In general you want to always use the last in a series. So when I say 3.0 I really mean 3.0.9 (or whatever the final release in the 3.0 series is). Then you could do 3.1.9, and then 3.2.9, etc.
Step 3: Report back here when you hit a wall.

Yes! I am doing the upgrades on a local installation. I would probably have to bury myself if I destroyed the original XP

Thank you, I will try that -- I've also been reading the guide on ensuring schema integrity on upgrade, which also seems relevant.

Thanks again! I will be back to report success/failure.

Here's some tips that helped me when I had issues with a db that wouldn't upgrade due to errors.

My original database was stuck at 4.3.3 and had gone through many upgrades and a couple times had some errors on the upgrade. Even after switching to civihosting my 4.3.3 database gave a trigger error that triggers weren't enabled. We (Hershel and I) determined that it had to be with the db. So I got the bright idea to compare the structures of the corrupt db with a clean 4.3.3 structure. Here are the steps I took:

•     I did a structure dump of the Corrupt DB minus the custom tables.
•   I imported the civicrm.mysql file from the 4.3.3 build into a clean db
•   I did a structure dump of the clean import and then compared the files using a Diff tool. There were alot of issues that confirmed for me it was the db. I ensured that all column names matched between the two db's.
•    I then did a structure dump of the custom tables in the corrupt db, then a data dump of the custom tables in the corrupt db, then a data dump of all the other tables in the corrupt db.
•   Then I imported into the clean db in the following order: the structure of the custom tables, the data of the custom tables, the data of the other tables.
•   Then I ran the upgrade to 4.3.5 and it upgraded without any errors

If you get stuck somewhere these might help you get past it.