A 1.2 GB French forum upgraded twice

Two version upgrades three years apart on the same French-language board. The first one carried a 1.2 GB database and a set of installed mods across with it.

The objective

The board was on phpBB 3.0.14 with mods installed and a 1.2 GB database. The client had bought a theme built for 3.2 and needed the forum on that version without losing any content.

The database size was the thing to watch. On a board that size the upgrade steps run long enough that a failure part way through is a real risk, so I had to prove the whole thing on a copy first.

What I did

I ran the upgrade on a copy of the database to find where it would fail before going anywhere near the live board.

I checked each installed mod against 3.2 and dealt with the ones that no longer worked.

I installed the purchased theme and got it working with the French language pack.

Three years later I upgraded the same board from 3.2.0 to 3.3.1, which also meant moving it onto a PHP version that 3.3 supports.

The result

Both upgrades came through with the posts, users and structure intact. The client came back for the second one three years after the first.