I am moving to an new web host. I can FTP the files and folders easy enough, but I'm not sure on the best way to do the databases. I have multiple websites, including a few wordpress blogs and some phpBB forums. I want to have the least downtime, but I don't want to lose any posts or comments from users in my blogs or forums. What's the best way to move my databases to a new host?
export the database using PHPMyAdmin and then import it on the new host using PHPMyAdmin. If your host doesn't supply those tools for you, you should be able to install it without much trouble.
adding to what KalvinB said, keep in mind the DB hostname might change (it's not always 'localhost') and so do other DB connection parameters. In that case you might have to update your config php files.
That's what I thought. I guess there will be downtime while the domain propagates. Anyway, now I have a new and worse problem. I think there's some kind of compatibility issue.
are you pretty good with ssh ? do you know how to access your account/server via cli? if so doing the export >> import would be so much better and could probably sort out most of the compatibility issues.. anyhow if now... you can almost sort compatibilty issues using phpMyAdmin.. in the export page there should be a dropdown with some text before it mentioning compatibity/versioning? if you open the dropdown you'll see a few mysql versions... pick the right one and you should have less of a headache during your import.