Hi Jay,

So. I would start with restoring the database to the new location. Once the database is restored, unzip your website into the location where it is going to be stored. Then open the web.config and updated the connection string to point to the relocated database. You'll probably have to update server name, maybe database name if you change it, and the credentials for logging in.

In theory, that is your first step. You should then be able to assign the site a temporary domain name, or edit your local host file to point to the new server and see if you can access it.

If you can't access it, then you'll need to start going through debug steps. The first would be check all the permissions on the website directories and files. Then if you are getting a YSOD (Yellow screen of death) error message, try seeing if you can access the Umbraco back office. Depending on the error, this might be available still.

You then have 2 options, the first is to check the Umbraco logs for errors. If you don't find anything there and you are able to, consider turning Custom Errors to Off Remember to turn this back to RemoteOnly before making the site live

This should give you a stacktrace of any errors that occur and you should be able to diagnose any issues from there.

Once you have it running in the second environment with no issues, only then do you change you DNS settings to point to the new server :-)

Nik

Hi Nik

Thank you so much for your reply. I have indeed followed you steps, however I'm getting a 500 Server Error message when visiting my domain in a browser.

I'm told that I've not configured the connection strings correctly in the web.config file. The lines that I'm amending are the ones below, where the "XXXX" is the new details on my new server.

<remove name="umbracoDbDSN" />
<add name="umbracoDbDSN" connectionString="server=XXXX;database=XXXX;user id=XXXX;password=XXXX" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />

I'm putting the same string details for both the umbracoDbDSN and the MSSQL lines mentioned.

Not sure where I'm going wrong, any idea what the issue might be?

If you copied your DB with SQL-Server Management Studio, you may need to check the users mapped to the Umbraco DB -- your old user was most likely not imported.

Another issue may be machine connectivity. Is there an IT / infrastructure person you can talk to? It may be that some firewall is impeding the db-machine and web-server from talking to one another (if they're separate machines).

You can always try creating a blank DB in your new database instance and installing an "empty" / clean copy of Umbraco on the new server. This has nothing to do with your site -- so you can just test base connectivity: Can Umbraco read the DB? It also will tell you if the issue is with your codebase or your infrastructure.

This can be a few things but if you're not seeing an error and httpErrors is set to "PassThrough" in the web.config it's most likely:

1) A corrupt web.config (carefully check you haven't messed it up - deleted a closing xml tag etc etc).

2) File permissions. https://our.umbraco.org/documentation/getting-started/setup/install/permissions

3) Something not right on IIS - check the host to check against https://our.umbraco.org/documentation/Getting-Started/Setup/Requirements/

Hi Steve

Thanks for your reply.

All I'm getting is "500 - Internal Server Error". As far as I can see, the xml code/syntax is not missing any open/closed tags.

I've also checked all file/user permissions which are all set to Full Control.

What I did notice is that my new host has named both the database and the user the same (i.e database is "abc123xyz", user id is also "abc123xyz"). Also they've created another user, with similar name, minus the underscore and everything left of it (i.e "xyz")

Could any of that be the problem? Finally I've asked my new host to check configuration as per the articles you suggested.

I await their response with bated breath.

Is PassThrough set on httpErrors ?

Hi Steve

I'm pleased to say that the 500 Error has now been resolved by the new host.

However, now I am getting a server error when I'm attempting to view details of registered users, via the umbraco BackOffice login (i.e www.mydomain.com/umbraco).

I have a "Custom Area" tab, which allows me to view registered users of my site, however when clicking on "Details" to view each record, it throws up the bellow:

Start of error message

"Object reference not set to an instance of an object."

Stack Trace:

[NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.] spongeBike.database.DataAccess.sqlAccess.setCXN() +74 spongeBike.database.DataAccess.sqlAccess..ctor(String spName, Boolean isRawSql, String ConnStringName) +28 MyWebSiteName.MWSNHelpers.userHelper.getUser(Int32 USID) +40 BankName.customAdmin.User.applyFilter() +99 BankName.customAdmin.User.Page_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e) +192 System.Web.Util.CalliEventHandlerDelegateProxy.Callback(Object sender, EventArgs e) +51 System.Web.UI.Control.OnLoad(EventArgs e) +95 System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive() +59 System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) +780

End of error message

I have no clue what all that means, I only know that it's not pulling data from the database.

If I was to guess I'd say that there is a separate DB connection string hard coded in the source. Do you have the source?

Hi Steve

Yes I have all the files from my existing server, now on my new server.

Where/which file do I attempt to look for the DB connection string?

Hi guys, sorry it's been a while since I responded, I just wanted to let you know that my issue has since been resolved.

Many many thanks to you all for assisting me with advice, guidance, tips and solutions, very much appreciated!

You guys are awesome :-)

Warmest regards

Jay

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