ManilaMigration

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It has become absolutely imperative to shut the Manila server down permanently. If you would like anything off the Manila server or to migrate your blog from Manila to Wordpress, you need to do that before Wednesday, April 25, 2007.

See the ManilaMigrationFAQ for general information about the migration from the manila server to the wordpress server.

The following instructions describe how to move an existing blogs.law.harvard.edu blog from the old, manila server to the new wordpress server. Please read these instructions very carefully in the entirety before attempting the import and note the following:

  • The manila import does not completely reproduce your existing blog; it merely copies most of the content from your existing blog to your new blog.
  • You might want to back up your weblog, just to be safe, using either Manila's features or something like Wget. A Python script for such a backup is available. No knowledge of Python is necessary to run it.
  • You can still access your old blog at http://blogs-manila.law.harvard.edu/ after the migration, but you will experience problems navigating and logging into your blog at the blogs-manila address. You might want to take care of anything you'd like to do before the import, like making any notes about switching blog software or about that weblog being an archive, downloading any files stored on your blog, taking screenshots, making backups, etc. To log in, you might need to download the HTML code of the log in page and edit it. More about that is on the ManilaMigrationFAQ.
  • The blogs-manila address will disappear within months because that server is getting shut down.
  • The import process does not destroy any data on your old, manila blog. However, the server that weblog is on is going to be shut down very soon. Take what you need or want as soon as possible.


1. Create a blog with a temporary name

To replace your existing blog, create a blog with the same directory name as your existing blog on the new server. To create the new blog, just go to the front page of the new server, fill in the 'Create a Blog' form, and click on the 'Create my Blog' button. Blog directory names have to be more than 3 characters. To keep your new blog at the same url, just use your existing directory name in the Blog URL field. For example, if you have a blog on the manila server at http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/geekroom/, enter 'geekroom' in the Blog URL field.

Note that this approach will create a new, empty blog (shortly to be filled with content copied from your old blog) at your existing blog url and will move your current weblog to a blogs-manila URL.

A safer way to perform the migration is to choose another name when you create the wpmu blog and then continue with the below instructions. Once you are happy with the new blog, just let us know when you want to move the new blog to your existing name.

2. Authenticate with your manila user

After submitting the initial form, the server will ask for the name (email) and password of a managing editor on the old, manila blog. You must enter valid user information to continue (otherwise, anyone could take over the name of any existing blog).

3. Click on the import link on the new blog screen

After authenticating with your manila identification, the server will return a new blog screen that includes links to view your new blog, to administer your new blog, and to import content into your blog. Click on the import link to start importing content from your old, manila blog.

4. Fill in the import form

First, read the notes on the import form carefully. The import does not copy all content exactly. It's important that you understand what is and is not being copied from the manila server.

After reading and understanding the notes, fill in the import form with your manila blog url (the same as in step 1) and your manila user and password (the same as in step 2). Submit the form and wait for anywhere from thirty seconds to ten minutes for the import to complete. Do not try to reload the import if it seems to be taking too long; wait until the page returns either a success message or an error message. If you get any sort of error message, let us know.

5. Complete the setup of your blog theme and options

At this point, you will have a blog with the content from your old, manila blog but with a default theme and options. You should now visit the Presentation -> Themes page to choose a theme for your site and the Options page to setup the options for your blog.

6. Email us to change the url

Once you are happy with your new blog, email us and we'll change the url of your blog to your production url, so that it will supercede your old manila blog.

7. Enjoy the new server

The new server is much faster, much safer, and much more reliable than the old one. Enjoy!


Notes from the import process j will format later

Notes

Please read all of the following notes. REALLY, PLEASE READ ALL OF THESE NOTES! The import process does not make a perfect copy of your old, manila blog. It merely copies your news items, stories, and comments and relies on you to complete the setup of your new blog (including setting up the new design, setting any options, etc).

The Manila Migration FAQ answers questions about the overall manila migration process as well as step by step instructions for the import.

You must enter the user and password for a managing editor on the old blog, or the import will fail.

The import will make no modifications to your existing old blog. It merely copies the content from your existing blog. Note that you superceded your existing blog url if you signed up for a blog of the same name during the creation process.

Please be patient. The import will take anywhere from a couple of minutes to half an hour. Reloading the page or restarting the import will merely require that you start over.

The import will pull all of the following from your old blog: 

   * news items
   * stories
   * comments
   * members
   * categories
   * permalinks for news items, stories, and pictures
   * a custom url for each story

The import will not pull the following from you manila blog: 

   * tracbacks from other sites
   * any preferences
   * any themes or other custom ui modifications
   * any files, pictures, gems, or shortcuts, though the links to these items on the manila server will be preserved (see below)
   * permalinks for comments
   * multiple custom urls for a single story -- if there is more than url, the importer will pick one url at random.
   * passwords for members

The import will make the following modifications to the imported content: 

   * messages deleted since April 1, 2006, and drafts will be both be undeleted/published in your new blog.
   * since wordpress does not support a link field separate from the text of a news item, manila title urls are by default simply added as user invisible metadata to each post. If you need the new items urls to be visible to your blog readers, check the "Migrate Title Links" box above to make the importer inlcude the title link as a separate link at the bottom of each post.
   * shortcuts to files (gems), pictures, and stories are translated into the relevant links. For files and pictures, the shortcuts are translated into links to the content on the manila server. This translation means that the text served to the end user will stay the same and so files and pictures will continue to work. However, you will not be able to edit the files and pictures from the new server. To change an existing file or picture, you will have to upload a new copy of the file or picture to the new server and change the relevant news items to link to the new file or picture.
   * the importer assumes that you are using the America/Boston timezone for you blog. If you are not, please let us know so we can help you fix your imported dates.
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