Express transfer issues

[septi]

I want to transfer my site from one server to another.

I think nothing will goes wrong.

The only issue is that the account has 35GB. The source server is in US. The destination is in Europe. I do not see that as a big of a deal.

So I start my transfer. Then I see a checkbox saying express transfer. I do not know what it is. I suppose it transfer more quickly. I guess it's saver. So I check it.

This is what it does.

It mess up the account in the original server for who knows what. Also it does that in the BEGINNING of the transfer, not after everything is okay.

I do not understand why would anyone want to do so? Usually we copy account to the destination server and then we change the name server right? Until we change the name server in registrar there will be no way the domains point to the new server anyway?

So my sites are down.

The only way to fix that is to terminate the account and restore from back up, which also takes a very long time. My sites are down for 1 day. I lost most of my search engine ranking.

I think it should be marked as dangerous. People must know what it does. The word express transfer is also misleading. It should be "screw the original"

 

[cPanelMichael]

Hello

Express transfers are documented at:

cPanel - Express Transfers

The following is noted on the transfer page itself in WHM:

Express Transfer = This will edit the zone on remote server to reflect the new DNS which can result in expedited propagation, forward any incoming mail from the remote server to the new server, suspend the account on the remote server, and prevent dynamic content from being loaded on the remote server (so no data will be lost).

Feel free to open a feature request if you would like to see a more prominent warning about express transfers:

Submit A Feature Request

Thank you.

 

[shmeg]

So I start my transfer. Then I see a checkbox saying express transfer. I do not know what it is. I suppose it transfer more quickly. I guess it's saver. So I check it.

Really? you need to take a hard look at your practices. Doing a migration requires planning and at a basic understanding of the tools. You just admit that you didn't know what it did and selected it anyway. That's just foolish and bad administration. Your problems are definitely the fault of a tool but not the one you are blaming.

RTFM.

 

[santiazpi]

I actually think Express Transfer is an extremely useful tool. (Since I found this old post as one of the first in google, I will further comment).

The suggested way to use is:

1. Do a NON express migration. Test that everything works in the destination server (by changing your "hosts" files)
2. If everythingk is AOK, do an express migration.

Done. Only thing left is to change dns, if new server is different DNS than previous server.

cPanel might want to suggest something similar, clarifying that it should best be use a second step, not as a first.