Help with hosting a site created in Gardens and exported

We encourage users to post events happening in the community to the community events group on https://www.drupal.org.
patrickgrady's picture

Hello Everyone,

I am still fairly new in the Drupal world, but loving every waking minute. I have a few questions that I am hoping some kind souls can help me with.

Here is where I am at:

I just created my first ever website, using Drupal Gardens. Last night I downloaded the Acquia AMP stack and then core Drupal from Drupal.org. I watched a tutorial online on how to create a site with Core Drupal, but am really intimidated as Core doesn't have the user friendly environment, preloaded modules, content, etc that Gardens has. So what I think is my next step in learning Drupal is what I am asking for help with:

How do I export my Gardens site? Can I then import that into Core, or do I have to re-build that site essentially from scratch? Once I have imported that site into Core or built a new one from scratch, how do I actually pass my site onto a hosting company to host and make live for me?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Patrick

Comments

Welcometo Drupal!!

Pistachio Pony's picture

Hi Patrick and welcome to Drupal! Drupal can be intimidating but if you take it step by step you will get the hang of it in no time. Drupal Gardens (DG) is a great way to create a site and if you know CSS you can really tweak it to something original. I keep my site there because I am usually too busy to keep my site up to date on security etc so I update the content on it and Drupal Gardens does the rest (so I can work on other people's websites).

To export your site from DG you go to: configration>System>Site Export. If you have any problems, find the Help link (above to the right), type your question and poof your question or a similar one should show up in another window, (hopefully with a good answer).

To upload your exported site correctly to your server, you are going to have to call your web host and have them walk you through it. DG will not help you with that.

If you want to learn Drupal you are just going to get your hands dirty and play with it from your Aqua stack locally! Have fun, it only lives on your computer, so if you break it, the worst thing that can happen is you have to start over again! I would subscribe to Lynda.com. I learned a lot from the videos there. There are TONS other sites and of course, books that can help you learn. Just google "learn Drupal".

MOST IMPORTANTLY though, is to go to one of the meet ups in your area. Drupal Gurus are the most generous and patient on the planet. You will have fun, meet cool people and learn a lot. Don't be hard on yourself and be patient.

Easiest host for Drupal Gardens

cbrookins's picture

Is the Acquia Dev Cloud - just go to http://www.acquia.com/products-services/acquia-dev-cloud and you will get 30 days free for entering the code you see on the right site. Then there are instructions for how to import a drupal gardens exported site in the documentation. Enjoy!

Chris Brookins, VP Engineering and Product Management, Acquia
Get a free Drupal 7 site at http://DrupalGardens.com

If you come from a

2thelake's picture

If you come from a non-developer background, getting your bearings with Drupal can take some time. As others mentioned, you just have to keep at it and "get your hands dirty". Eventually it will feel pretty intuitive.

I'm in the infancy stage of site building, but it is coming along. In terms of what to look for regarding hosting, researching cloud computing companies to find a good long term fit may requires some trial and error. Do you plan to do any scaling, or will the site be "as is" after its initial completion? Good luck with exporting, and continued success on your site.

You probably don't want to pay the earth

3cord's picture

Hi,

3 Cord do hosting specifically for this, being able to test your website.

The thing with Acquia Dev Cloud is you're going to be paying quite a bit for something you probably don't need.

You could check the hosting plans out here:

http://www.3cord.co.nz/web-hosting

If you're wanting to export the file just feel free to email to support@3cord.co.nz and they'll upload for you.

kind regards,

Ben