Upgrade question about old junk tables

[EZorb]

http://www.zen-cart.com/entry.php?3-How-do-I-rebuild-my-site-on-the-new-version-instead-of-upgrading

Old site 150 with numinix ajax one page checkout feac
New site 155e with OPC
I have new on test site & on same server as old just different folders.
I have made two backup of old database with zencart DB backup
I have made two backup of new database with zencart DB backup

Now ready to export old DB and import into new DB and run zc-install upgrade.

Here is what I do not understand:
When we import old into new does that not over right new tables with old junk tables and now new cart setup appearance and settings is using old cart setup data?

Is the old DB tables just amended to the new DB tables and tables that do not exist in new DB are created or how does the import work?

How does new site know not to use some of old tables data in configuring new cart?

Why would you not uncheck old tables data like configuring tables, layout boxes, banners & banner history, ect., and tables not being used on new cart, not using those mods.

I am not questioning what Dr Byte says to do just need to know the Why's or guess I don't understand how the DB works with zencart.

What will be the admin password old cart one or new cart one?

Thanks,
Larry

[DrByte]

Now ready to export old DB and import into new DB and run zc-install upgrade.

If you're following the article I posted, then that means you're only "importing to new DB" for the purpose of testing, and not for the final "go-live". Right?

Here is what I do not understand:
When we import old into new does that not over right new tables with old junk tables and now new cart setup appearance and settings is using old cart setup data?

Yes, it overwrites the "new" tables with everything in the old. Including any customizations you did in the "new". That's why the article tells you to take note of all the customizations you make so you can re-make them easily by following your checklist.

Then you run the upgrade script to bring the new "old" up to the new structure.
Then you re-customize as needed.

s the old DB tables just amended to the new DB tables and tables that do not exist in new DB are created or how does the import work?

Any tables in the "new" that also exist in the "old" will be wiped and replaced with "old".

How does new site know not to use some of old tables data in configuring new cart?

It doesn't.
You can do the cleanup of obsolete tables after going live.

Why would you not uncheck old tables data like configuring tables, layout boxes, banners & banner history, ect., and tables not being used on new cart, not using those mods.

Because 99% of the time *you* won't know all the technical reasons behind every one of those things, and you'll end up creating a mess. The instructions accommodate the lowest-common-skills in order to minimize loss and complications. If you know for sure that certain tables aren't impacted during the upgrade then you could skip those, but that's something you need to test and verify for yourself. The instructions are written so that the automated zc_install tool that handles upgrading database structures/content without losing data can do its job without issue, and if there "is" any problem it's relatively straightforward to get help sorting out. Deviating from that flow means you also need to sort out any problems/failures on your own.

What will be the admin password old cart one or new cart one?

Old.

[EZorb]

That put me back on track.
What I missed was the redoing customization. Keeping good notes I got but thought was for the redesign.

What is the difference in after you have finalize new cart changing the two config files to match the (4 place) the old config files and running zc-install?

What is the difference in using your DB backup to restore old DB into new cart vs: phpMy admin and import Db into new?

Thank very helpful,
Larry

[EZorb]

On the using good notes to make changes after new cart + old DB and zc-install has been run, The changes that need to be made is only through admin panel, All changes made to zencart software Custom folders have not changed. Is that not correct? So you would need to need to select the new template and make changes thru admin for new cart. Is this not correct?

[DrByte]

Think of it this way:

1) you start with making a test environment for doing the upgrade, using a "copy" of the live site
2) then do play around and do all the upgrade steps, add plugins, etc until you're happy that it's ready to "go live".
3) then to "go live", you re-do it all again, but on the live site. Since you're using the "live" database which is "old", you redo the zc_install upgrade step, then manually redo all the admin-side config settings customizations, and any plugin-specific configurations. A benefit is that by copying over all the files (php/css/js etc) you save having to redo all the changes to those files.

You could insert a new "2.5" by doing a complete "test", by making "another" copy of the old/live site in a new test directory+database, and "pretend" to go-live on this extra test site. Then you'll know if you've missed anything or not when actually "going live" on the "real" server's live database.

Does that help?


These are all just best-practice ways to avoid resulting in an online store that's "down" because of some glitch you hadn't anticipated.
(You "could" just go-live directly and skip all these temporary steps, but then you'll be in a panic if anything goes wrong because customers won't be able to purchase, and your sales will stop until you get things sorted out.)

[EZorb]

Yes that is what I needed. (You could insert a new "2.5" by doing a complete "test", by making "another" copy of the old/live site in a new test directory+database, and "pretend" to go-live on this extra test site. Then you'll know if you've missed anything or not when actually "going live" on the "real" server's live database.) This is what I am wanting to do so I won't have any unknown problems.

When I import old DB into new DB I am getting an error.

SQL query:


CREATE TABLE `address_book` ( `address_book_id` int(11) NOT NULL, `customers_id` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0', `address_title` varchar(32) DEFAULT NULL, `entry_gender` char(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT '', `entry_company` varchar(64) DEFAULT NULL, `entry_firstname` varchar(32) NOT NULL DEFAULT '', `entry_lastname` varchar(32) NOT NULL DEFAULT '', `entry_street_address` varchar(64) NOT NULL DEFAULT '', `entry_suburb` varchar(32) DEFAULT NULL, `entry_postcode` varchar(10) NOT NULL DEFAULT '', `entry_city` varchar(32) NOT NULL DEFAULT '', `entry_state` varchar(32) DEFAULT NULL, `entry_country_id` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0', `entry_zone_id` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0', `entry_telephone` varchar(50) DEFAULT NULL ) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 MySQL said:
#1050 - Table 'address_book' already exist