Doesn’t LbF support the importing of Duplicator .daf archives? My site will not complete the package using .zip. LbF suggests using Duplicator, so I don’t see how it can’t support the daf archive. Am I missing something? I first tried dragging the daf file into the LbF window. Then I tried Import Site from the File menu. So then I installed a new WP site using the (plus) button. New blank WP site worked fine, but when I tried to get the files and db over from the daf archive, I got several warnings and couldn’t log in as Admin.
To clarify, I have a .daf archive I am trying to import into a new LbF WP install, but LbF says it doesn’t know what to do with that file. Admittedly, I don’t know what to do with the installer.php file.
It looks like when creating the backup, there should be a zip file along with an installer.php file. I think you’ll want to copy those to the public folder, and then access the php file from the browser with a url that looks something like:
example.local/installer.php
Maybe there are additional settings that can be found when creating the backup and which allow you to specify that the backup should use a .zip file format?
The .daf format is (usually) more reliable than the zip, and is a must for large sites and large databases. Although this particular site isn’t very large at all (it’s an event announcement site with very little content) I have my Duplicator Pro settings default to daf. It works perfectly almost every time. And yes, the Installer.php file is what you run from the site itself, and that takes care of everything. Strange how it bombed on this pretty small site.
I just got an email that this “demo” site’s time is up and will be wiped in 24 hours. While I don’t actually need this demo site anymore, I would like to try and getting working so I know why the migration is failing for next time. Can you extend the time?
I’m sorry I didn’t get to this in time. For Flywheel hosting related things like requesting an extension for a demo site, you’ll need to reach out to the hosting support.
In terms of figuring out what was preventing the daf file from being imported correctly, I would check a few different places:
Local Log – this might have some errors related to things like the site container crashing. Probably won’t yield much, but worth a quick glance
Site logs (php and mysql) – these will often point to issues that the site encounters when trying to run code. It’s possible that a plugin or database value could be causing problems during migration.
Hope that helps zero in on something. Let me know if you need anything else!
Duplicator Pro makes zip archives by default, but for larger sites it’s better to create daf archives. This seems to be a proprietary format from Snapcreek (the creator of Duplicator Pro). It looks like Local by Flywheel doesn’t support this format. It would be a great addition if support for daf would be added.
As Flywheel Help has always suggested to me to use Duplicator Pro (not just for Local,) I don’t understand how Local cannot support the daf archive. Many of my sites - even the not-so-big ones - fail half the time with zip. So, I now default to daf.
And while I think Flywheels hosting and Support is exceptional, I’ve given up on Local at this point. After spending gobs of hours fighting with Local shortcomings, bugs, and issues, I am a much happier person now that I am free from the frustration of Local.