Server is moving to a new NOC - PLEASE HELP!!!

[nitromax]

I have just been notified by my current NOC that they are going to have to move my server to a different NOC down the street, and that they are going to have to reassign me a totally new C Block of IP's to replace the current ones I am using.

Where do I go from here??? Please help!!! Here's what I've done so far with the limited knowledge and time that I have to get this done...

1) I was told what the new C Block of IP's are going to be at the new NOC, and I added them in using the feature in WHM as follows: 64.200.207.1-254. They are appearing as available in WHM.


2) I have had two main name servers setup (NS1 & NS2) that most of my customers have in their domain name records (minus a few resellers). I went into my Bulk Register account and changed the IP address on file for the NS2 name server to one of the IP's in the new C Block. My thoughts here are, NS1 is pointing to the old NOC and NS2 is pointing to the new NOC.


3) I used WHM to edit the DNS Zone for the domain name of my name servers and changed the NS2 IP to match the one in step 2 above.


4) I edited the /etc/hosts file and added the new IP of NS2 so it looks like this:

64.200.207.5 localhost.localdomain
127.0.0.1 localhost
128.241.245.19 saturn.yourhostserver.com saturn
157.238.132.4 localhost.localdomain

The IP on top is the new IP in NS2. The 3rd IP is currently the main IP of my server and will be changing to 64.200.207.2 (NOT SURE WHAT TO DO HERE. I mean I know I will have to change it above, but I'm trying to think ahead so as to avoid down time.)

The last IP up there is the IP on my main NS1 name server, and I have left that in tact so every thing stays running at the current NOC.

5) I then edited the /etc/resolv.conf file so it looks like this:

nameserver 127.0.0.1
nameserver 157.238.132.4 #Current NS1 IP.
nameserver 64.200.207.5 #New NS2 IP.
nameserver 128.241.245.19 #Current main IP.
nameserver 4.2.2.1 #Not sure what this is.


Does that look right so far? Do I need to do anything else??? Any other files I need to modify? OK... please stay with me a bit longer...


6) I have several resellers that have their own name servers on our system. So I basically did the same thing to their NS2 setting by changing the IP in their domain name / name server record to a new IP in the new C Block. I then updated their zone files in WHM and replaced the old IP on NS2 with the new IP from the new C block. I then restarted Bind.


&b&7) When they disconnect my server and drive it over to the new NOC and plug it into the new network, what do I do from there once I have root access again???&/b&


8) I need to reassign every customer on the server a new IP Address from the new C block. Do I do that using the WHM feature? If I do that, will it update the httpd.conf file and the zone files, and anything else that may need to be updated? Will it be as simple as that?


9) What about the few customers I have that have their own SSL certificates? When I assign them a new IP will their SSL IP be updated in the httpd.conf file?


10) Am I screwed here? How much down time do you think my customers will experience? Is there anything I can do to further minimize down time?


Any help that could be given by someone experienced would be greatly, greatly, greatly appreciated!!! Thanks in advance if anyone can help!

 

[dgbaker]

The work you have done so far seems fine, but I think you are in for a bit of a bumpy ride, here are some things to watch.

1. Some SSL certs are IP specific and your customers may have to get new certs. Customers may not like that a whole lot, as it may cost money. (who covers the cost)

2. Cpanel license is IP specific as well so make sure the NOC gets the license for cpanel straightened out ahead of time.

3. Any software that you have tied to the main ip will have to fixed as well.

Reassigning the new IP's to the users after the move should take care of httpd.conf and zone files. But you may have to do some checking and tweaking.

Myself personally, I would try to get the NOC to give you another server at that new location and allow you to move/migrate the accounts over, run both simultaniously while dns records get updated and you can ensure customer sites are fully functional.

The downtime you are going to face could vary quite a bit. You have the initial downtime of the server being moved, which could be anywhere from a half hour to a couple hours. What does NOC say for downtime for the move.

Then you have potenial downtime while straghtening out the IP's on the server for your clients. If new certs need to be purchased this is also potential downtime for the client as it can take some time to get the new cert.

One of the best things you can do is communicate openly and honestly with your customers and resellers to ensure they fully understand that there will be some downtime and that everything will be done to minimize that.

I would though strongly suggest you try to get the NOC to give another server to migrate to and then they can have your current server back after the server is fully functional again. Talk to them about the SSL certs and ask who is going to cover the cost if new certs need to be generated.

I hope this helps a bit, I hope everything goes well for you. If you need a hand let us know. We have a nice little perl script called swap that can do a search and replace across the entire server for the IP's as well.

Best of luck.

 

[NNNils]

My server was moved too, it was a terrible mess to get things right.

I hope for you it will get better.

I had problems with:

- subdomains and parked domains getting listed in cpanel (solved)
- changing all the DNS files (solved)
- webalizer hanging (still not solved)

Maybe you should have an extra look at these things.

 

[nitromax]

Thank you both for your input! Just a few more thoughts/questions...

1) We have moved the SSL certs in the past and the IP's changed, and there were no problems that I can recall, so hopefully that won't be an issue. I know that each SSL cert is specified in the httpd.conf file with the IP Address that the hosting account is setup on, so I'm assuming that we'd have to make sure to change the IP's listed in the httpd.conf file to the new IP that the account will be on. We only have a few anyway, so hopefully this won't be a big issue.

2) I was aware about the CPanel License, but thanks for the reminder! I'm calling them now to get that in line.

3) Do you know what software is usually bound to the main IP of the server? I mean when you say software do you mean like PHP, TomCat, etc..? Any clarification you have on that would be appreciated.

4) Any additional thoughts on my question #7 in my first post? Any step-by-step thoughts would be highly welcome, as I am quite nervous!

The NOC is unfortunately not able to set me up on a different server and then have me move things around. It's all or none on this one. But the new NOC is only about 10 blocks down the street, so they said it's just a matter of powering it down, driving it over to the new NOC, and then powering it back up.

Thanks again for your help! I do appreciate it!!!