Transfer to different hardware with the same IP

[AndyB78]

Hello everyone,

We have a situation where we have to move 300 accounts x 2 servers inside the same Datacenter to other hardware (also 2 servers) so we get to keep the same IPs (so that we avoid any propagation problems and IP services disruption).

What would be the best way (no or very little downtime) to accomplish this?

We have moved plenty of servers using the "Copy multiple accounts/packages from another server" feature but this one needs to be done to different hardware with eventually the same IP and with minimum disruption.

Any smart strategies to consider?

Thanks!

[nimrodx]

How about running cpbackup on the source server and then copying the backups to the new server.. and doing a restore?

[AndyB78]

How about running cpbackup on the source server and then copying the backups to the new server.. and doing a restore?

Well...this is of course an option but I was kind of hoping to find something based on or similar to "Copy multiple accounts...". But this is of course a worthy option.

There is one problem (not with the strategy above but with any method): let's say I run cpbackup on remote FTP so I end up with all the cpbackup files on the new servers. But then I have to move from the router the old IP to the new server, license the cPanel install for this particular IP and restore the backups. Which means that from the moment when I move the IP until the restores are done we have some level of downtime for every account. And considering that there are about 300 accounts per server the restore will take quite some time.

Another problem is that for instance the accounts backed up at the beginning will get somewhat outdated until the entire cpbackup ends (a cpbackup gets done serverwide in about 12 hours so some data will be somewhat outdated). Some cusotmers will lose registrations, mails etc sent during this time.

Regards!

[markhard]

maybe by mirroring the harddrive from old server and install it on new server?

[AndyB78]

maybe by mirroring the harddrive from old server and install it on new server?

Hi,

No...this is not an option. For once there is some Fake Raid on those boxes so the setup is managed by dmraid (/dev/mapper) and we want to replace it with H/W RAID and second the OS itself is 32 bit version instead of the 64 bit version that we requested.

One choice is to simply copy the data over and then change the IPs of the second server back to match the IPs of the first. The IP Migration Manager...is it hard to use? Should I expect any problems...never used it. Any good tutorial about this somewhere?

Regards!

[the_bobara]

Its easy job. You just need fresh cpanel server and then use this script: clone-server-server-b to copy clients, mysql, cpanel data then just do upcp and recompile apache and everything is done. After this just swap the IP addresses.

P.S. You will need temp IP address to the new server, so you can make migration.

[AndyB78]

Its easy job. You just need fresh cpanel server and then use this script: clone-server-server-b to copy clients, mysql, cpanel data then just do upcp and recompile apache and everything is done. After this just swap the IP addresses.

P.S. You will need temp IP address to the new server, so you can make migration.

It is tempting...to use this...I just fear not to forget something on the old server...the script is from 2004 after all.

I was thinking to just use the Remote FTP backup from cPanel and then just restore it on the other server (fresh cPanel install).

The way you suggest presents the advantage of a minimum downtime (probably like minutes or tens of minutes - only the IP change really) but I am not sure I would maintain perfect data integrity.

My way will maintain integrity but will incur a several hours downtime plus some outdated content (the data copied first).

I don't know...tough call...

But thanks for your post...it's in many ways what I was looking for...that and something with cPanel's "seal of approval"...

Regards!

PS: why would I need to recompile Apache?

[SoftDux]

You can't migrate all data from one server to another one the same IP, you'll get IP conflicts.

SO,

1. add a temporary IP to the old server, and change all accounts to the temp IP. Now "move" the current IP to the new server.
2. setup the 2nd server like you want it.
3. Setup an DNS cluster between the 2 servers, and make sure it's set to sync on the both ends
4. Use the transfer multiple accounts from other server function, select all the accounts, and copy them across. they will be assigned the new temp IP on the other server
5. now disable the DNS cluster & shutdown the old server.

All accounts are on the same IP, on a new server