Omeka API Import plugin: This is not a valid plugin

Omeka Classic Troubleshooting
1

Hi all,

A professor here wants me to duplicate the Omeka Classic instance her students were working on this semester so that she, and TAs, can work on the duplicate over the summer and leave the original instance As Is.

So I’ve spun up a new Omeka instance using the same codebase as what the students used this semester, version 3.1.2

The first thing I do is to install Escher, which I did.

Then reading this:
Moving to Another Server - Omeka Classic User Manual.

…looks like my best strategy here is to install the Omeka API Import plugin, then use that to pull the data over into the duplicate site.

I used Escher to pull down Omeka API Import, version 1.1.2

But when I go to activate it I get an error:

“This is not a valid plugin.”

No fair!

Advice, on how to fix this plugin issue, or more generally how to duplicate an Omeka Classic instance, appreciated,

Mark

2

I can’t speak to Escher; if you’re having a problem with it, my suggestion would be to just download and install the Omeka API Import plugin directly.

For purely duplicating a site, API import is one fine option. Another could be to just bring over the entire existing install, that is “move” it to another server as in that docs page you linked, but leave the original in place. So, bring over the files and the database from the other install.

3

@mcyzyk I would second the approach @jflatnes suggests to duplicate the site. It’s fairly straightforward to:

  • Copy the installation directory of the original Omeka instance
  • Create a new database and import an export of the original database
  • Update the config.ini file for the new instance to point to the new database

I’ve been working on a project recently specifically to make tasks like this super easy. It’s a hosting and management platform for Omeka and Omeka S. One of the features we just added is a “1-click” site copy that performs the steps above and takes care of some of the other server stuff like installing an SSL certificate. This makes it super easy to duplicate a site to create a test or staging environment to test a module/plugin or to run through an Omeka upgrade to ensure compatibility before going live. Here’s a quick video demonstrating this feature:

The other cool feature we’ve built into the platform is the idea of site templates. You can create a template with the version of Omeka, the modules, and the themes that you want and then deploy as many instances of Omeka as you need. This is great for deploying Omeka for different faculty or for deploying an Omeka instance for each student in a class.