Account transfers via WHM no longer work

[jpetersen]

Hi,

Over the past 2 or 3 months, perhaps longer, I've noticed a 100% failure rate when using the "Copy an account from another server with account password" feature in WHM.

- We have attempted transfers from multiple hosting providers

- The error message is always exactly the same:

Error while copying account...! Aborting Extraction

Sniffing the traffic, the flow from start to end is always exactly the same:

1. Our server successfully logs into the remote server via FTP

2. After doing so, our server attempts to create the following directory on the remote host:
public_html/cgi-bin/cpdownload

The remote server returns with:
550 Can't create directory: File exists

3. Our server attempts to create the following directory on the remote host:
public_html

The remote server returns with:
550 Can't create directory: File exists

4. Our server attempts to create the following directory on the remote host:
public_html/cgi-bin

The remote server returns with:
550 Can't create directory: File exists

5. Repeat step 2

6. Our server issues the PWD command

The remote server returns:
257 "/" is your current location

7. Our server issues the following command:
CWD public_html/cgi-bin/cpdownload

The remote server returns:
250 OK Current directory is public_html/cgi-bin/cpdownload

8. Our server issues with CWD command

The remote server returns:
250 OK Current directory is /

9. Our server issues the following command:
SITE chmod 755 public_html/cgi-bin/cpdownload

The remote server returns:
200 Permissions changed on public_html/cgi-bin/cpdownload

10. Our server issues the following command:
CWD public_html/cgi-bin/cpdownload

The remote server returns:
250 OK Current directory is public_html/cgi-bin/cpdownload


This is getting pretty long, and there is still quite a bit left. To cut to the chase: all other commands are successful up to the point of failure, to include the following commands:

ALLO
PORT
STOR (for .htaccess, cpanelwrap.c, cpanelwrap.cgi, cpaneldownload.cgi, cpaneldownacct.cgi, cpanelkill.cgi)
SITE chmod 755 (cpanelwrap.cgi, cpaneldownacct.cgi, cpaneldownload.cgi, cpanelkill.cgi)

And finally, this is where the process has died, every single time:

11. Our server issues the following command:
GET /~username/cgi-bin/cpaneldownload/cpanelwrap.cgi?username HTTP/1.0

("username" would of course be replaced with the actual username of the account attempting to be transferred)

The remote server has been returning the following in each case:
HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error

The request is repeated about 22 more times, all resulting in the 500 Internal Server Error


--

Again, this behavior has been observed on multiple servers here, and with multiple remote servers at various providers. In each case, I was able to confirm that our server was able to log in successfully to initiate the transfer process. In each case, the flow as listed above has been exactly the same, with everything being successful up until the point of the GET request to cpanelwrap.cgi?username

I'm not saying the issue is with cPanel. I do fully understand that conditions for this feature to work must be ideal, and I do understand the following:

This feature REQUIRES ideal conditions on the remote server. The remote server must have ftp running, a working copy of perl, cgi enabled, and a STANDARD unmodified cPanel configuration. The remote server admin can easily prevent this type of copy from working if they choose since this does not require any type of privileged access. If any of these are requirements are not met this will fail. This feature is not recommended for copying account over 250 megabytes. It should only be used as a last resort when you do not have the root password to the remote server.

However, after seeing so many fails, all failing in the exact same manner for so long now, I do not believe that the issue is with the cPanel, perl, or other software configuration on our servers, or on the multiple remote servers we have experienced this issue on.

I am aware that there are alternatives to this process. However, I am mainly interested in learning if anyone else is seeing the same thing, or if anyone has any insight into what could be causing this. It has shown to be 100% reproducible over the past several months, without exception. Thanks!

[david510]

you can manually copy in this manner.

On remote server take the backup of the account from shell

/scripts/pkgacct username

Or
make a backup of the account from the remote domain's cpanel

scp this backup file to your server's /home directory

restore using
/scripts/restorepkg username

[jpetersen]

you can manually copy in this manner.

I am aware that there are alternatives to this process. However, I am mainly interested in learning if anyone else is seeing the same thing, or if anyone has any insight into what could be causing this.

[Zion Ahead]

Same problem. Transfer always SUCKED in cpanel.

[nickp666]

Mine do the same, manual transfer is the only way for it to work successfully

[jpetersen]

I grabbed the contents of /home/username/public_html/cgi-bin/cpdownload/*
after yet another failed transfer attempt. Check this out:

# head -1 cpanelwrap.cgi
#!/usr/bin/per

# grep include cpanelwrap.c
#include <sys/types.h
#include <unistd.h
#include <stdio.h

Missing semicolons from numerous files, etc. I'll open a bug report with cPanel about this and post it here when complete for everyone to vote on.

[jpetersen]

Vote it up !

http://bugzilla.cpanel.net/show_bug.cgi?id=5318

[cpanelkenneth]

Thanks for that report. it appears the support files are being destroyed either during the transfer or immediately after as they look fine on the destination server. I've brought to the attention of the devs and it should be resolved soon.

[chae]

I've voted for the fix, tried transferring between two servers today & yep you guessed it - failed. Had to go manual transfer

[jackal]

Try edge works for us.

Joey

[cpanelkenneth]

The problem stems from a change to Net::FTP and will affect any server that upgraded to the latest version of Net::FTP, which usually happens during a upcp.

[Metro2]

Happening with cPanel 10.9.0-R10737 too.

Any plans for a fix to make it to Release versions?