From phpbb to vB - transition period

[No Harmony]

I would like to convert my forum from phpbb to vBulletin software insuch a way that after the content is moved to the new vB software,theold phpbb forum remains as an archive for a some transition period.

The reason for that is that many pages on my website have links to theforum threads. I would have to change each link to the new forumthreads, and it would be easier to have the old board operational (butclosed for posting) while I am doing that.

Question1: since my hosting plan allows only for one mySql database, isit possible to install vB in the same database as phpbb,and have bothrunning?

Question 2: If the answer to Q1 is yes, is it possible to install inthe same directory, so that my URL forums.example.com remains the same(and I don't care about index.php from the old phpbbboard)?

[No Harmony]

For some reason, blank spaces dissapear from my posts

[KimmiKat]

Question 1 is you can run more then one board on one database. Just give the new board a different prefix. I actually had 3different boards (IPB, phpBB and vB) running of one database at onetime, but since the first 2.

[Steve Machol]

1. Yes, jjust use different tables prefixes for your phpBB abd vB foeum tables.

2. That would be a big mistake since both vB and phpBB have some file names in common. You will need to install these in totally separate directories.

[No Harmony]

Regarding #2 question - I understand that there are some file names in common, but getting down to specifics, I know of index.php and search.php.

If my old phpbb installation does not have these files, old forum search and man forum page will not work, but threads might be displayed. (Viewtopic.php in phpbb vs. showthread.php in vB).

Are common files limited to these 2 or there are some other problems?

[Steve Machol]

I do not know that the names of the phpBB files are. My recommendation is to install vB in an entirely separate directory - even if there were no names in common. It's much easier to manage this way.

[KimmiKat]

You can do a simple php forward to any directory on your site, which is what I do on my board. A php forward is a index.php file with the following in it... You can put this in your forum.example.com directory.

<?php header("Location:http://www.yourdomainname.net/forumdirectory/index.php");?>