Exporting your site

If your site grows beyond the functionality that Drupal Gardens provides, you can export it at any time and install it on your local computer or any Drupal-compatible web hosting such as Acquia Dev Cloud. The export includes Drupal 7, your database, themes, content, modules, site and module configuration settings, and users. After you've exported, you can add any Drupal 7-compatible contributed modules, new functionality, or get help from Drupal professionals to add new features and much more. You can think of it this way: Acquia owns the Drupal Gardens platform, but you own your site.

Overview

• Why would I want to export a copy of my site?
• Is my live site deleted or changed when I export it?
• What are the differences between my site running in Drupal Gardens and running outside?
• Export your site
• Host your site elsewhere
  • Usernames and passwords
  • Acquia Dev Desktop
  • Acquia Dev Cloud
  • Troubleshooting resources

Why would I want to export a copy of my site?

Your site might be growing and you want to add functionality or Drupal modules not available in Drupal Gardens.

Is my live site deleted or changed when I export it?

Exporting a copy of your Drupal Gardens site does not change it at all. It will continue to run like normal. Exporting a copy of your site does not delete it, take it offline, or change it in any way.

Site export gives you the freedom to move your site elsewhere and develop it further.

What are the differences between my site running in Drupal Gardens and running outside?

When exported and installed on web hosting:

• Full Drupal 7 interface - Certain areas and controls in the administrative interface not available to you inside Drupal Gardens (either because Drupal Gardens automatically configures them for you or because Drupal Gardens offers enhancements to assist you in those areas) will be exposed.
• Add modules, change code - You will have full control of your site code, including the ability to add compatible Drupal modules and functionality not available in Drupal Gardens.
• Your code, your responsibility - Security updates and code maintenance previously done by Drupal Gardens becomes your sole responsibility. If you would like help and support with your site, you can sign up for various Acquia services (Acquia is Drupal Gardens' parent company), including the Acquia Network and Support, or even move it onto Acquia Dev Cloud.
• No ThemeBuilder - Your site theme will work and appear exactly as it did in Drupal Gardens, but the ThemeBuilder is part of the Drupal Gardens infrastructure and is not exported with your site. You can still edit it directly via its CSS and template files. You can also import new themes into your site's codebase and change themes in the Drupal administrative backend.

Export your site

Exporting your site is extremely simple:

1. Go to Configuration > Site export on your site.
2. Click "Export".

3. Save the .tar.gz archive to your local computer.

You can also export any site you own by visiting the site manager and choosing Export siteunder the More menu.

Host your site elsewhere

There are a couple of changes made to your site's configuration when it is exported. Knowing these should let you get it set up as a local installation using the Acquia Dev Desktop or other local AMP stack, Acquia Dev Cloud or any other web hosting provider.

Usernames and passwords

For security reasons, when you export your site, its administrative user accounts are assigned new usernames and/or passwords and all member accounts# passwords are changed. If you install your exported site on other web hosting, Drupal Gardens staff have no access and do not know your new usernames or passwords.

The new usernames and/or passwords are listed in your exported codebase in a file called "credentials-[sitename]-user1_[random].txt".

• User 1 - This is the Drupal administrative super user and is reserved for support staff use while your site is running in Drupal Gardens. Once your site is exported, user 1 is assigned a random username (user_1 plus a random text string) and assigned a randomly generated password.
• Site maintainer - This is your Drupal Gardens administrative user account. On export, it is assigned your Drupal Gardens username and a randomly generated password.
• Site members - Your members' passwords are changed on export. Once you install your exported site on other web hosting, let your site members know that they can reset their passwords entering their e-mail address as registered in Drupal Gardens on your new site athttp://example.com/user/password on your newly installed site (substituting your new site URL for "example.com").

Acquia Dev Desktop

Here's some information to help you get started using the Acquia Dev Desktop local development environment on your computer:

• How to install the Acquia Dev Desktop.
• How to import your site into the Acquia Dev Desktop.
• Dev Desktop introduction and help page index

Acquia Dev Cloud

To move your Drupal Gardens site to Acquia Dev Cloud, just follow these steps:

1. Buy an Acquia Network Developer subscription - during this process you will be prompted for the size of server you want to use for your site.
2. Visit your Drupal Gardens My Sites page and click Export. Save the file downloaded.
3. Visit the Acquia Dev Cloud Install page and click Import. Select the file you downloaded.
4. If you have a custom domain, visit the Acquia Dev Cloud Domains page and add your custom domain, if you have one. Then visit your DNS provider and change the IP address to the value shown on the Acquia Dev Cloud Domains page.
5. That's it!

Troubleshooting resources

Drupal.org -Installation outside of Drupal Gardens can be challenging, given the large number of variables and technical issues that can come up in hosting environments. Drupal.org contains many resources that can help you. One place to start if you have trouble installing a freshly exported Drupal Gardens site is the Drupal 7 installation troubleshooting page.

Drupal Gardens exported site forum - This forum is for you if you are having any issues with your exported Drupal Gardens site. Please note that, although Drupal Gardens Support moderators and staff do participate in this forum, it is not part of the official Drupal Gardens support offering.