Moving Accounts Between Servers

Last modified: 21 Dec 2007

This document describes how to move virtual hosting accounts between two Unix/Linux physical servers or between two Windows servers within the same H-Sphere cluster. It is not possible to move accounts between a Windows and a Unix/Linux servers.

Content move utility has a web interface in the control panel, doesn't require manual restart of H-Sphere, considers DNS synchronization issues, and resolves many other problems.

Account move implies:

1) transfer of
     - user account
     - all domains hosted under this account
     - home directory and its content
Note: no mail resources can be moved between H-Sphere servers.

2) IP and DNS data changes.

Account move doesn't involve user databases, as they are located on separate database servers. Once you have correctly moved the accounts to a different web server, user scripts will be able to work with MySQL databases from the new location.

Warning: As a result of the account move, Webalizer statistics will be reset. ModLogAn statistics won't be lost.

Cautions

• Check if any of the customer scripts use the server IP address and instant access domain alias. Note all uses to update them right after the move.
• Check for absolute file paths in customer scripts if you are going to change the location of user homes. Note all uses to update them right after the move.
• Make sure the server has no users that reached their disk quota.

Requirements:

• There should not be any users on the target server with the same username as on the source server.
• You need to have SSL certificates for all accounts using SSL. Since account move doesn't work with accounts using SSL, you'll need to disable SSL for these accounts before the move, and reinstall the certificates after the move.
• Port 873 (RSync) should be open (More on firewall configuration)
• The target server should have:
• shared IP with the same shared IP tag for migrated shared IP domains;
• free dedicated IP for migrated dedicated IP domains.

Procedure

Before moving an account, make sure that the target server has a shared IP available with the same tag as the shared IP on the source server.

To move an account:

1. Disable SSL on all accounts where it is enabled.
2. Select Start Account Move in the E.Manager menu.
3. Select source and target servers. Enter account details. Click Submit.
4. Click Move for this account. The account will be scheduled for move. The system will check with the source and target servers for information about the resources to be moved.
5. Select Start Move Processes in the E.Manager menu.
6. Click Launch for this account.
   

   The content move routine takes the following steps:

   1. Initialization: collecting all necessary information for moving the account.
   2. Checking if the move is possible: checking if the required resources can be created physically on the target server.
   3. Physical creation of the resources on the target server.
   4. Content transfer: transferring the user's directory to the target server.
   5. Switching DNS: changing IPs, binding dedicated IPs to the target server's interface.
   6. Deleting resources on the source server: this operation is performed with a 24 hour delay after switching IPs.
7. Reinstall SSL certificates on all accounts where they had been installed.

If at any stage an error occurs, the process gets suspended, and a trouble ticket is created and assigned to this specific transfer process, so admin can identify and resolve the problems. Once the problem is resolved and the process resumed, account move continues from where it stopped.