updates, upgrades, domain change

[chaotix]

K, this is kinda a general query regarding SMF/TP.

Basically my site http://www.x-clan.clanservers.com is on SMF 1.1 RC 2 just now. Its got TP v0.86 but its not visible yet as im still working on some blocks. 

But a few changes have happend in the past month. RC 3 is out and also TP v0.95, and we are also moving domains (http://thexclan.net) . 

K, firstly are SMF/TP(RC2/0.86) themes compatible with the SMF/TP(RC3/0.95) themes?

Secondly, should i update to the newer versions first before moving domains?
Or will it be possible to restore data from the previous versions?

[IchBin]

There's a few different ways you can do it I guess. I would suggest before you do any updating you setup a test site.

The way I would do this is this:
1. Move to your new domain.
2. Get your site up and running and setup a test site for the new rc3 and TP update.
3. Make sure the theme you want works with your new test site. Some themes are having a few minor problems but for the most part I think they are working.
4. Once everything is working on the test site move to the live site and update. ALWAYS MAKE A BACKUP BEFORE YOU DO ANY CHANGES!

[Nokonium]

I have done this sort of excercise and would suggest the following:

1 - Check the suitability of all installed themes and mods to work with the updated SMF version
2 - When all check out OK, or at least the essential ones, make a new install of RC2 on your new host.
3 - Make a database backup of the old site and upload it to the new server, set the server settings to the imported d/b table prefix and run repair settings.
4 - Run the SMF RC3 upgrade
5 - Install TP 0.95beta
6 - Install other mods and themes.
7 - Check everything works, I ask members to visit the new site and help
8 - When ready to do the switch, add a suitable maintenance message and put the board into Maintenance.
9 - Take a final database copy and upload it to the new server (how you do that depends on you and your server, I drop all the old database and import the new one) then run repair settings.
10 - Check it over and make sure all is OK
11 - Switch the domain to your new server

Utilitied for taking and restoring databases and a file to rename table prefixes can be found in the BZ Download Manager.

[chaotix]

Hey thanks for the help guys, got it all working pretty smoothly, hardest thing i came accross was finding the "import" button in phpMyAdmin most of the sites done just needs a bit of polishing off.

There is one thing though ive accidentally deleted the "downloads" block, anyone know how to set it up again?