transfer without changing DNS

[kjg]

Hi,
Is it possible to somehow stop the transfer tool from updating DNS.

We just want to transfer the account first, check it out and then manually edit the DNS to point to the new server IP. We do not want any automated changes in the DNS.

Are there any settings I have missed?

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[Infopro]

Why not backup the account to the new server and restore it from there instead of using the transfer tool?

 

[kjg]

Thanks for the reply

Yes, that is an option, but transfers are done on a regular basis by a number of people and having the checkbox "don't update the DNS" the same way as for new accounts would be much better. (think it is now the other way around with "overwrite dns" checkbox at create).

Most times this is not an issue since we do not run nameservers on most of our cpanel servers so transfers will not update any dns that is actually used but for a number of servers we still use the cpanel nameserver.

 

[Infopro]

You might want to post a Feature Request for this sort of functionality.

 

[citizen8601]

As @kjg was doing, I am trying to transfer an account from one cPanel web server to another without having the DNS updated. My two cPanel web servers are both part of a DNS cluster that uses a pair of cPanel DNS Only servers. I tried the method suggested by @Infopro: back up using the cPanel account backup feature, and restore using the WHM Transfer or Restore feature, but the result was that the DNS was updated by the restore operation. Is there any way to prevent this?

 

[cPRex]

There currently isn't a way to prevent that behavior. A feature request would still be a good idea as I don't see one was submitted originally when this thread was created.

Can you let me know why you don't want the DNS to update?

 

[citizen8601]

Great, I will create a feature request.

Here are the reasons why I'm looking to take manual control of the DNS updates:

- We are moving sites from a regular Centos-based cPanel server to a CloudLinux-based one and we have discovered that there are a few things that can go wrong in such a migration. So we want to be able to troubleshoot on the new server before the site is live on it, especially as we get to know CloudLinux and our PHP configurations on the new server.

- We want to minimize downtime during site migrations. While the Transfer Tool has this aim, I believe it leaves open some chance for data loss while the site is still live on the old server after the databases have been dumped, and in my experience can leave a data-heavy site offline for quite some time. I think I can improve on it by doing the entire migration and then taking the site offline for a final data sync before bringing it online on the new server.

- We have observed cases where the zone file was not transferred in a migration using the Transfer Tool, and the site came online with a newly-generated template-based zone file. Not sure of the steps to reproduce this, unfortunately.

- The WHM Transfer or Restore feature gives the option to change only the cPanel-provided A records, but we have some zones where some of those A records point to other servers and should not be changed at all as part of the website migration.

Thanks for asking. If you have any suggestions regarding any of these hurdles, I would be interested in them!

 

[cPRex]

Thanks for the feedback - a busy site does often need a final sync in order to avoid data loss, and there just isn't a great way around that. It's best to do the transfer, then perform as much testing as you can as quickly as you can, then perform the final sync, to keep that window as small as possible.

If I see that feature request come in I'll be sure to approve it!