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cPanel transfer tool wipes custom A records?

Discussion in 'Bind / DNS / Nameserver Issues' started by stormy, Dec 22, 2016.

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  1. stormy

    stormy Well-Known Member

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    We have just done a big server migration using the cPanel transfer tool, and we find that all custom A records for any accounts have been wiped and pointed to the new server's IP address. That includes custom entries for "www" as well as totally custom A records pointing to other hostnames.

    Is this normal? Or was there a mistake somewhere?
     
    #1 stormy, Dec 22, 2016
  2. Eminds

    Eminds Well-Known Member

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    You must have selected the option of assign new IP addresses while initiating the migration from cpanel and that has changed the IP addresses for all the website accounts. Regarding the custom A records you can always edit them as per your requirements from Edit DNS option in WHM.
     
    #2 Eminds, Dec 22, 2016
  3. stormy

    stormy Well-Known Member

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    Let me get this straight: I'm using the transfer tool, and checking "Express Transfer". Does this wipe any custom A records, and point everything to the IP of the new server, regardless whether the entries match the old IP or not?
     
    #3 stormy, Dec 22, 2016
  4. cPanelMichael

    cPanelMichael Forums Analyst
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    Hello @stormy,

    The Transfer Tool updates DNS records that reference the old IP address to use the account's new IP address. Thus, if the account is assigned an IP address of "1.2.3.4" on the source server, then the DNS zone created on the destination server during the transfer process will automatically replace DNS entries referencing "1.2.3.4" with the IP address assigned to the account on the destination server. If there's an "A" record in the zone on the source server that points to another IP address, say "5.6.7.8", then that IP address is preserved in the DNS zone created on the destination server.

    I believe the behavior you are reporting is related to an existing bug (CPANEL-5579), where the "Express Transfer" option changes all IP Addresses in the source server's zone file to match the destination server IP address, even if it's not an IP address that's used on the source server. There's no time frame to report on a resolution, however I'll update this thread with more information on the status of this case as it becomes available.

    Thank you.
     
    #4 cPanelMichael, Dec 22, 2016
  5. stormy

    stormy Well-Known Member

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    This bug has bit me hard, yes. I lost custom A records for tens of accounts. And I still have to migrate more than a thousand accounts.

    Is there a workaround? I hope there is one!
     
    #5 stormy, Dec 22, 2016
  6. cPanelMichael

    cPanelMichael Forums Analyst
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    Hello @stormy,

    It's advised to avoid using the "Express Transfer" option to avoid this issue on additional accounts until a resolution is published.
    Do you have backups enabled on the accounts? If so, you can extract the DNS zones with commands such as:

    Code:
    cd /path/to/backups
tar -zxvf username.tar.gz username/dnszones/*
    Thank you.
     
    #6 cPanelMichael, Dec 22, 2016
  7. stormy

    stormy Well-Known Member

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    Thanks @cPanelMichael. However, if I don't use the express transfer, the transfer is a lot more complicated, with mail and sites still running in the old server.

    If I don't use express transfer, do the regular A records still get changed? All my servers run in a DNS cluster, by the way.
     
    #7 stormy, Dec 22, 2016
  8. cPanelMichael

    cPanelMichael Forums Analyst
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    Hello,

    With Express Transfer disabled, the behavior referenced earlier is correctly followed:

    Thank you.
     
    #8 cPanelMichael, Dec 22, 2016
  9. stormy

    stormy Well-Known Member

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    Thanks! So we only lose the automatic account suspensions and the mail forwarding to the new server. Is there a manual way of attaining this? Suspending is easy :), the mail part is the one I'm most interested in.
     
    #9 stormy, Dec 22, 2016
  10. cPanelMichael

    cPanelMichael Forums Analyst
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    You can update the MX entries in the DNS zone to a hostname that resolves to the IP address of the destination server, and choose "Remote Mail Exchanger" under "Email Routing" in the "WHM >> Edit DNS Zone" interface. In addition, you'd want to change the "A" records for "mail" and "webmail" to the destination server's IP address.

    Thank you.
     
    #10 cPanelMichael, Dec 23, 2016
  11. stormy

    stormy Well-Known Member

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    Thanks @cPanelMichael . I'm looking for a solution that I can apply to 500+ accounts, so I don't think I can do that.

    I know you don't give any dates for bug fixes, but can you give me a hint? Are we talking days, weeks or months?
     
    #11 stormy, Dec 23, 2016
  12. cPanelMichael

    cPanelMichael Forums Analyst
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    I don't have a time frame to report at this time, but I have linked this thread to the internal case. I'll update this thread as soon as new information is available.

    Thank you.
     
    #12 cPanelMichael, Jan 20, 2017
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