How to move a Bugzilla installation from one machine to another?

Bugzilla is an open-source issue/bug tracking system that allows developers effectively to keep track of outstanding problems with their product. It is written in Perl and uses MYSQL database.

Bugzilla is a Defect tracking tool, however it can be used as a test management tool as such it can be easily linked with other Test Case management tools like Quality Center, Testlink etc.

You are advised to install the same version of Bugzilla on the new machine as the old machine - any upgrade you also need to do can then be done as a separate step. But if you do install a newer version, things should still work.

1. Shut down your Bugzilla by loading the front page, going to Administration | Parameters | General and putting some explanatory text into the shutdownhtml parameter.
2. Make a backup of the bugs database.
3. On your new machine, install Bugzilla.
   
4. Copy thedata directory and the localconfig file from the old Bugzilla installation to the new one.
5. If anything about your database configuration changed (location of the server, username, password, etc.) as part of the move, update the appropriate variables in localconfig.
6. If the new URL to your new Bugzilla installation is different from the old one, update the urlbase parameter in data/params.json using a text editor.
7. Copy the database backup file from your old server to the new one.
8. Create an empty bugs database on the new server. For MySQL, that would look like this:
   mysql -u root -p -e "CREATE DATABASE bugs DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8;"
9. Import your backup file into your new bugs database. Again, for MySQL:
   mysql -u root -p bugs < $BACKUP_FILE_NAME
10. Run checksetup.pl to make sure all is OK. (Unless you are using a newer version of Bugzilla on your new server, this should not make any changes.)
    ./checksetup.pl
11. Activate your new Bugzilla by loading the front page on the new server, going to Administration | Parameters | General and removing the text from the shutdownhtml parameter.