Migrating Mambo to Joomla PDF Print E-mail

This article details the steps necessary to convert an existing installation of Mambo 4.5.2 or above to Joomla 1.0.15. It borrows heavily from an article on the Joomla! Help web site.

However this how-to differs in that it is specific to snaffle and our development process. It also includes observations not included in the original guide which may be of help to some people. 

Migrating from Mambo to Joomla!, while not an extremely painful process, is one that should not be undertaken without first putting in place some preparation.

This may seem like a no-brainer, but make sure that the people using the Mambo system are aware that a change is going to take place and ensure that you've found out from them which areas of the system they use most, and hence which need to be operational as a priority.

If at all possible, run through the migration process on what we call a "development" server (some geeks call it a "sandpit", which would explain their/mine somewhat child-like tendancies). Depending on your hosting situation and server access it may in fact be easier to complete the entire upgrade on a development server and simply overwrite the old site files via FTP and run the database upgrade.

BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP
I cannot emphasis enough how important it is to back up both your database and site files before performing the migration.

Having successfully backed up both your site files and database, go through the following steps to complete the migration:

  1. For a snaffle migration, backing up the live database is also the first step in the migration process as we need an up to date copy of the database on which to perform the migration. Backup the database using whichever hosting control panel is applicable for the site you are working on.
  2. The next step is to import our copy of the live database into our development server using phpMyAdmin.
  3. Download the latest stable version of Joomla. Expand the archive and upload the Joomla site files to a newly created sub-directory on your site, in my case I tend to just call it /new/.
  4. Remove the Joomla installation folder.
  5. Copy your Mambo configuration.php file into the /new/ directory containing your Joomla installation.
  6. Copy any CUSTOM templates, components, modules, mambots and languages to the same relative locations in the new Joomla directory. The following is a list of the entities that SHOULD NOT be copied from Mambo as they are part of the Joomla core.

Templates:

  • mambo_admin (administrator only)
  • mambo_admin_blue (administrator only)
  • rhuk_solarflare_ii

Components:

  • com_admin (administrator only)
  • com_banners
  • com_categories (administrator only)
  • com_checkin (administrator only)
  • com_config (administrator only)
  • com_contact
  • com_content
  • com_frontpage
  • com_installer (administrator only)
  • com_languages (administrator only)
  • com_login
  • com_mambots (administrator only)
  • com_massmail (administrator only)
  • com_media (administrator only)
  • com_menumanager (administrator only)
  • com_menus (administrator only)
  • com_messages
  • com_modules (administrator only)
  • com_newsfeeds
  • com_poll
  • com_registration
  • com_rss
  • com_search
  • com_sections (administrator only)
  • com_statistics (administrator only)
  • com_syndicate (administrator only)
  • com_templates (administrator only)
  • com_trash (administrator only)
  • com_typedcontent (administrator only)
  • com_user
  • com_users (administrator only)
  • com_weblinks
  • com_wrapper

Modules:

  • mod_archive
  • mod_banners
  • mod_components (administrator only)
  • mod_fullmenu (administrator only)
  • mod_latest (administrator only)
  • mod_latestnews
  • mod_logged (administrator only)
  • mod_login
  • mod_mainmenu
  • mod_mosmsg (administrator only)
  • mod_mostread
  • mod_newsflash
  • mod_online
  • mod_pathway
  • mod_poll
  • mod_popular (administrator only)
  • mod_quickicon (administrator only)
  • mod_random_image
  • mod_related_items
  • mod_rssfeed
  • mod_search
  • mod_sections
  • mod_stats
  • mod_templatechooser
  • mod_toolbar (administrator only)
  • mod_unread (administrator only)
  • mod_whosonline
  • mod_wrapper

Mambots:

  • content/geshi
  • content/legacybots
  • content/moscode
  • content/mosemailcloak
  • content/mosimage
  • content/mosloadposition
  • content/mospaging
  • content/mossef
  • content/mosvote
  • editors/none
  • editors/tinymce
  • editors-xtd/mosimage.btn
  • editors-xtd/mospage.btn
  • search/categories.searchbot
  • search/contacts.searchbot
  • search/content.searchbot
  • search/newsfeeds.searchbot
  • search/sections.searchbot
  • search/weblinks.searchbot

Language:

  • english

Database Updates

While there are no "critical" database updates that are required, there is a script included with the Joomla distribution (/installation/sql/migrate_Mambo4523_to_Joomla_100.sql) that will update the default template for the administrator, and unpublish a module that relates to MamboForge.

 
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