Import a large .xml file into Wordpress
 

I used the export feature of Wordpress as a backup of a friend's website. What I did not realise that spammers had somehow managed to load thousands of lines spam into his archives, around 45,000 lines.

I had problems upgrading the Wordpress installation and I am now unable to restore.

When I try and import the file it just falls over.

Any advice greatly received.

Re: Import a large .xml file into Wordpress
 

Hi,

What error message do you get? What's the filesize of the XML file? Are you sure you're not hitting either your host's upload limit or your PHP memory limit? This WP forum thread may help: http://wordpress.org/support/topic/165689.
This may not be the reason but it's worth checking.

I'm curious, how did you identify that there is spam in the database?

Re: Import a large .xml file into Wordpress
 

Thanks for the link adew.

The file ended up being 21 Mbytes. Over 45,000 lines and over 1.5 million words. I opened a copy in Word.

It breaks all the limits on php and WP on my current hosting service.

What happened was the installation was using a very old version of WP and they had not activated Askimet.
Somehow or another the spam was being shoved into the old posts - hundreds of lines to a post.

They installed the automatic upgrade WP plugin, which could not cope with their system and the whole thing crashed. The only backup was the exported xml file.

I've think I've now resolved the problem as I've got a friend who is into the tech stuff and he's seeing what he can do on his home system. He's keen to change limits etc.

Moral of the story

Always backup properly. Always use Askimet. Keep your WP reasonalby current.

Re: Import a large .xml file into Wordpress
 

Couldn't agree more! Glad you got it sorted. :)