Wordpress - migrating posts and images only - wordpress

I am changing my Wordpress theme. I've set it up on a development server. I now want to import the posts, pages and media to populate the database.
I have been using the built-in Wordpress import/export function which is erratic when it comes to media. Sometimes all the imports fail, sometimes some of them fail. It's problematic and I am giving up on that.
Is there a reliable plugin that I can use? I've been searching without success.

The best way to create a dev environment for wordpress is to create a mirror copy of it and then changing its url.
You would need to copy over all the files and restore the database on the dev environment and then hard coding your dev url in wp-config.php. At that point, you can upload the new theme and activate it.

I've tried all types of plugins as well as WP built-in export/import functions. The solution that worked well for me was All-in-One Migration plus All-in-One Migration Extension so allow the transfer of 16GB of data. I've had one or two hiccups along the way but the technical support folks at ServMask are very responsive and solved the issues expeditiously.

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After migrating a WP site, changes made in the Customizer don't appear on the new site

I have a Wordpress site, built using the Hestia theme, on my local PC. I'd like to push the full site, exactly as everything looks locally, to production. I'm able to migrate the codebase, database, plugins, base theme, etc. using Duplicator plugin to prod.
The problem I have is that I did a variety of customizing to the theme in the WYSIWYG theme editor in Wordpress (the customizer) on my local PC and those updates aren't coming through to production with any type of import that I do (I've tried the duplicator and the Wordpress import tool).
Is there something I'm missing or doing wrong in the process? How do I get that customized theme / site to production looking exactly like it does on my local PC? Thanks!
The customizer contents are saved in the database AFAIK.
There is a plugin for export/umport of customizer data: https://wordpress.org/plugins/customizer-export-import/
I just ran into a similar issue and just got done banging my head against the wall, so I figured I'd share. My particular theme was Blocksy (though it sounds like your issue may be imilar).
It turns out that the theme settings were being stored in a wp_options entry named theme_mods_blocksy-child. I confirmed that they existed in the new database after restoring from the backed up SQL. However, as soon as I would visit the new WordPress installation, that entry was being deleted for some reason. I still don't know why this was happening, but luckily the solution was simple in my case. I created a backup of the theme settings here:
https://my_wordpress_site/wp-admin/customize.php
Exported the settings from: General Options > General > Manage Options
Then imported the backed up settings in the same fashion on the new installation.
It sounds from what I was reading that the customizer export import plugin would work well if your theme does not make this kind of import/export functionality readily available from the Customization screen like the theme I was using does.

How to manually back up wordpress website

I have never used wordpress before, My boss has given me access to a site which was created using wordpress. then He asked me how I am going to make sure I don't break the site accidentally, I told him I would create a backup on my local computer so that all my changes can be restored if I mess up.
I have the wordpress dashboard up. How do I back up EVERYTHING, I hear there are two separate things I need to back up? someone please help me.
PS: I don't think he would like me to do this with out the use of additional plugins.
There are two separate things:
Your website database. Simply export all the MySQL tables from the database, which is dedicated to your site.
The site files, everything you've got under WordPress folder, /wp-includes, /wp-content, /wp-admin directories and all files.
This should do it all. You can test on your localhost to make sure it's everything that's necessary.
You can backup your WordPress either from your hosting account (preferable) or from your WP dashboard.
You need to backup two things - all the files (the root of your Wordpress installation) and the database for your WP installation.
Since you only have access to the dashboard, you have to use plugin for this.
Two of my favorite free backup plugins are:
BackupWordpress - https://wordpress.org/plugins/backupwordpress/
BackWPup - https://wordpress.org/plugins/backwpup/
They are intuitive and easy to work with, so you shouldn't have issues.
If you go to the dashboard go to "tools" in the left toolbar. Select "export". On the export page you can report that you want to export "all content". This will get you the items that you need from the server.
Then you need to install wordpress to your machine. You can download that from: https://wordpress.org/download/
Once you have that on your machine you also need a local server to run it and test it. I like WAMP, but it partially depends on your operating system. I suggest the following video to get you up to speed on how to get the localhost set up and running: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snFzbPm_RUE
Hope this helps!

Wordpress 3.5 upgrade to 4.0. Theme compatibility

I got in charge of some small sites that are running on WP 3.5; they are all using the same theme (a customized version of Bones). I have only used Joomla some years ago so I have no idea if, after the upgrade, the theme will still be compatible. I want to upgrade my WP version because the current one is vulnerable: I keep getting spam links into my articles that are placed inside hidden divs.
How can I know if the template is compatible or how can I fix the security issue. Any of these will do great.
Thanks!
WordPress does a very good job of changing very little with regards to theme tags in a core update. That said, we have no idea how your theme(s) have been made, or what functions they use.
The best, and probably only realistic option here, is to create a test site (a duplicate) and update that site first, then test to make sure all is working as it should.
As for the vulnerability, this is likely due to an insecure admin password or an insecure plugin. You should ensure all your plugins are up to date and that your admin panel is suitably secure.
When you update wordpress, it will not affect the wp-content folder which is having themes and plugins. So, don't worry update it. But for the secure updation, please take the backup of whole website first. Take backup of database and all files before doing any update.
WP 4 hasn't been out that long. I'd hold off on the upgrade unless you absolutely have to, until you know that all of the plugins used on the sites are compatible w/ WP 4.
Try to install the site on your PC creating a local copy using XAMP (for Windows).
In this way, you can:
download the MySQL database to have all the information of the
website locally;
install the latest wordpress platform locally (on your PC);
test the website thorugh common browsers.
At the end, you'll be sure about the compatibility and you can update the main site.
I have built my own theme with the Artisteer software; then i modified many PHP file to manage the loop in some special ways; so, to be sure that everything is working after an update of the site Wordpress version, i test everything on my PC.
For the vulnerability, please verify your plugin and all your theme file.
In some experiences, there are some plugin or simply some codes place somewhere in your theme which can create something like this:
> <div id="headerblock"> <center> <div style="left: -2227px; position:
> absolute; top: -3337px">
The only thing to do is check all the theme file and plugin to see where this code is placed.
Please check here for more information.
If you only change your password, probably it will not solve you problem because the malicious code is already inside your system.
Sometimes the malicious code can be placed directly inside the MySQL database.

Building a Wordpress site on Openshift to scale

Openshift's default app generator sets Wordpress creation of sites to be a non-scalable version of their gears. I'd like to know if there is a way to set a scalable instance and install wordpress on it.
thanks!
I am working on this today actually and got a scalable wordpress site up and running on OpenShift. (www.runcloudrun.com)
I disabled the symlinks in the action_hooks and manually added my theme and plugins to the php/wp-content/themes and plugins directory. I also used a S3 plugin to store all of my media files on amazon s3 so my images and media would scale once OpenShift adds addiontal gears.
I am writing a blog post on how to do all of this and it should be posted later this week.
Edit to add the blog post: http://www.runcloudrun.com/?p=22
--
gs
You can checkout this AppFog solution. And if you visit his Github you'd find an OpenShift wrapper as well. These two might give you all the sparks it needs to think out a scalable solution on Openshift.
Just use the git source URL and create a new app with PHP. Once the app is created, add MySQL to it.
Once you've created the app, the important next step is to check in your modules directly to the Git repo.
By default, we wanted folks to be able to download plugins directly from Wordpress, but when you scale, those files aren't copied over. Also, the filesystem for each gear in a scaled app isn't shared, so modules uploaded after you scale aren't magically copied to all gears. Given that limitation, we decided to mark the QuickStart not scalable, so as to prevent unfamiliar users from getting into trouble.
If you're familiar with Wordpress just check those modules in directly to your source, and everything will scale.

Duplicate an entire Wordpress site in the same domain

I have a live site built in Wordpress at www.site.com/name1.
The client wants a new theme. I've heavily modified the current theme with custom code and will need to do so with the new theme, all without interrupting the live site, so this wont be as simple as moving the site from one theme to another. Therefore I think I need to create a duplicate of the site at www.site.com/name2 because the content will all be the same. Doing this will give me a place to work on the redesign.
What is the best way to go about doing this? Should I have both use the same DB or not? When I get ready to go live should i simple redirect the domain to /name2 or move everything at /name2 to /name1?
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Chris
If you want the same Data you can use the same DB but there is somes Options Tables dans Meta tables in the Wordpress DB, then if you change parameters on one site it will affect the other.
If you just recode the Theme without touching anything in the configuration you can use the same DB to test your theme with valid datas, but if you think you'll have to change paramaters i would prefer duplicate the Production DB to a Test DB to secure the production Website.
When you go live you'll just have to move your theme to the production website and copy your Option and Meta Tables.
If you're at a point where you're having clients, you should definitely develop locally. This will free you from the trouble of mistakingly messing up the production site.
Install Apache, MySQL and PHP on your own machine.
Copy database and files from production.
Change anything you'd like without exposing it to the Internet.
Upload your new, tailor-suited theme to production when it's ready to go live.

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