I am using a dedicated private server on our LAN to migrate a small D6 website to D7 and eventually to Backdrop. So far I have partially migrated from D6 to D7 and am ready to start thinking about installing Backdropcms on this same server.
Given the headaches incurred in the D6-D7 port, I'm not sure whether it makes sense to try to convert D7 to Backdrop or simply recreate site content from D6-Backdrop via copy-paste, but in either case I am wondering if it is advisable to attempt a co-located multiplatform migration like this on a single server.
Specifically, the o/s is Centos7 and the existing root site path is /var/www/html/drupal6 and /var/www/html/drupal7 for D6 and D7, and I was thinking of using /var/www/html/backdrop for the Backdropcms install. Is this the recommended approach or can anyone point me to references for a better alternative?
Thanks.
I've done one D6 to Backdrop CMS upgrade. It was a while back, but if I recall correctly, you've done the hard part already. I recommend that you at least try the D7 to BackdropCMS portion of the upgrade. Even if all the data does not upgrade as smoothly as you would like, some of it might and that will save you time copying and pasting.
We would love to get additional feedback on the process if you try it. Let us know about any difficulties you find, because we'd really like to improve the D7 to Backdrop upgrade process.
I think your idea for a directory structure is fine. It's recommended that you keep private files outside of Backdrop CMS root. Personally, I would probably do something like this:
/var/www/html/backdrop/<backdropcms root>
/var/www/html/backdrop-config/active/<active config files>
/var/www/html/backdrop-files/private/<private files>
Hopefully, others will chime in with additional feedback or advice.
You have probably found these resources already (but here they are, just in case):
https://backdropcms.org/user-guide/file-system
https://backdropcms.org/developers