Preparing for export and import

Before you export or import data, review the preparatory information required and the tips recommended to ensure successful export and import operations.

# Before you begin

Before you begin, verify that you meet the specified requirements and have the requisite information to export and import data.

- At least one of the FTP servers recommended by Ensim

- The host name or IP address of the FTP server you want to use for export and import

- Your FTP login user name and password

- Optional: The complete directory path on the FTP server

- Optional: Maximum size of the file being exported or imported

- Note: Various file systems and FTP server utilities have limits on the file size they can handle. If the size of your file exceeds the file management capacity of the file system or the FTP server utility on your server, the file is split into multiple files before continuing with the export or import operation.

- Sufficient disk space on the target server to accommodate the data, otherwise the operation will fail.

# Tips for successful export and import

Review the tips provided in this section to avoid export and import issues.

1. Schedule export operations during a period of low activity.

2. Importing Web sites that reference non-variable Site IDs (hard-coded) to a different control panel server renders the site inaccessible. Do not use non-variable Site IDs in Web content. Use environment variables provided by the application.

   Environment variables enable scripts to use up-to-date information without having to store that information themselves.

   In addition to the standard environment variables, the following three environment variables are available to all scripts on your site:

   - SITE_ROOT. The root path of your site

   - SITE_CGIROOT. The top level CGI path of your site

   - SITE_HTMLROOT. The top level HTML CGI path of your site

   It is recommended that content developers use these variables to avoid hard-coding Site IDs. This ensures that path names are always correct, even if those path names change.

3. The export and import operation fails on certain FTP servers. Ensim recommends the use of certain FTP servers for successful export and import operations.

4. Files exported from versions 3.0 or 3.1 are incompatible with later versions. Export these files using the latest version of the control panel after you upgrade from the older versions.

5. Exporting data using FTP does not change the access permissions of the exported archives. If you want these archives to be secure, you must modify the default FTP permissions as needed.