Getting started

There are a few things you will need before you can migrate to your new (dv) Dedicated-Virtual Server 4.0:

• A domain name or IP address that resolves to your old server.
• The root password for your old server. If you are migrating from another (mt) Media Temple (dv) Dedicated-Virtual Server, see (dv):Enable root access.
• A shared IP (as opposed to exclusive) available on your new server. See (dv) 4.0:Plesk shared and exclusive IPs for details.
• Your IP address should also be set to shared on old server. See (dv):Plesk shared and exclusive IPs.
• If sub-domains in Plesk have unique FTP users, you will encounter PMM failures with the following message:

<execution-result status="error"><message code="InternalDtdValidationFailed" severity="error"><context>void plesk::validateSchema(plesk::tXmlDocument&, const std::string&)</context><file>./xml_parse.cpp</file><line>412</line><text>Failed validation of the document with its internal DTD. The errors are: Element 'ftpusers': This element is not expected. Expected is ( sites )..</text></message></execution-result>

The obvious work around to allow complete migration is to log into Plesk on the (dv) 3.5, edit the sub-domains that have unique FTP users, and set them to "Use the FTP user account of the main domain". Once all of the sub-domains have been set to use the parent domain's FTP user account, the failed PMM migration will need to be removed from the PMM page, and the migration started over. The new PMM migration should be able to complete (assuming all sub-domain FTP users are set to use the "main domain's" FTP user).

Instructions

Order the server

Order your new (dv) Dedicated-Virtual Server 4.0 from the AccountCenter. See Managing/Ordering Servers for details.

• The new server cannot have the same domain as your current (dv) Dedicated-Virtual Server at the time it is ordered although this can be changed later if desired.
  • Don't use a subdomain of a domain that is currently on your old server. You could use something like new-example.com, or just a random string of characters like igw8aclrj2.net.
• Once your migration is complete and the old server closed, you can rename the new server to whatever you want. See this article for more information: Changing your primary domain.

Lower your TTL

Please lower your TTL so that your DNS change to the new server goes smoothly.

Set up the new server

Please follow the instructions in Plesk first-time setup to configure the basic settings for your new server. You don't need to create a Subscription or Customer on the new server.

Use the Plesk Migration Manager

1. Log into the Plesk Server Administration Panel. See Figure 1:

Figure 1: The Plesk control panel. Click for a larger view.

2. Click on Tools & Utilities on the left. See Figure 2:

Figure 2: Click on Tools & Utilities.

3. Under the Tools section, click on Migration Manager. See Figure 3:

Figure 3: Click on Migration Manager.

4. Now, click Start New Migration. See Figure 4:

Figure 4: Click Start New Migration.

5. Fill in the details for your old server, and enter your migration preferences. Then, click Next. See Figure 5:

Figure 5: Enter the details for your old server and your migration preferences.

• Data source: Transfer data from another server.
• Source host name or IP address: This should be the IP address for your old server, or a domain that resolves to your old server. Leave the small box with "22" alone.
• Username: root
• Password: The root password for your old server.
• Temporary Files Location: Leave as default.
• Transfer the following data: You can transfer everything, or only selected data.
• Use rsync transport: Select rsync - it's faster and requires less free space on your old server.

This step may take a few minutes to complete while your new server checks your old server's settings.

6. If you see the message IP address not found, please visit (dv) 4.0:Plesk shared and exclusive IPs and set your IP address to Shared on this server. See Figure 7:

Figure 7: Figure 7. If your screen looks like this, you need to set one of your IP addresses to Shared.

7. Select a shared IP from the dropdown menu. If you have a more complex IP setup, you may need to create an IP mapping file (which you can upload by clicking on the Upload IP Mapping File link). Click Next. See Figure 8:

Figure 8: Select your new IP, then click Next.

8. You will be returned to the migration list, and you should see a progress bar for the migration status. You can click Refresh to refresh the page. See Figure 9:

Figure 9. Your migration status.

It's fine to navigate away from this page and log out of Plesk while the migration is running.

9. In a few minutes or a few hours, depending on how much data needs to be transferred, your migration will finish, and you will see the final status of the migration in the Progress section. See Figure 10:

Figure 10: Check on the progress of your migration.

It's normal for a migration from Plesk 8.6 to show Completed with errors.

10. Click on the IP address or domain name under the Source hostname column to view details for the migration. See Figure 11:

Figure 11: Click on the blue link to view details.

11. From here, you can download a log file for the migration. Click on the link to do so. We recommend NOT removing the temporary files from the migration until you've confirmed that everything is okay. So, you can uncheck that box. See Figure 12:

Figure 12: Download the log file. It's a plain text file that can be opened with TextEdit or Notepad.

12. Look at your server and make sure that all of your clients, domains, email addresses, etc. moved over correctly. Here's a short list of what you should be looking for:

13. You should be all set! If any errors came up, please continue with the Troubleshooting section below. You may also want to read these articles to learn how to transfer your email clients from Horde to AtMail:

• (dv) 3.5:Export Horde email contacts
• (dv) 4.0:Import email contacts to Atmail

It's also a good idea to turn off the private nameserver service named at this stage unless you plan to run your own nameservers. It's quite a resource hog.

Troubleshooting

In general, if your migration fails for some reason, you will have to:

1. Fix the problem.
2. Delete the stalled migration from your migration list on the new server.
3. Start over with a fresh migration attempt.

Unique FTP users

If sub-domains in Plesk have unique FTP users, you will encounter Plesk Migration Manager failures with the following message:

<execution-result status="error"><message code="InternalDtdValidationFailed" severity="error"><context>void plesk::validateSchema(plesk::tXmlDocument&, const std::string&)</context><file>./xml_parse.cpp</file><line>412</line><text>Failed validation of the document with its internal DTD. The errors are: Element 'ftpusers': This element is not expected. Expected is ( sites )..</text></message></execution-result>

To work around this issue, you will need to change the FTP settings for your subdomains on your old server.

1. Log into Plesk on your (dv) 3.5.
2. Find all of your subdomains that have unique FTP users, and set them to "Use the FTP user account of the main domain."
3. Now, start over with a new migration.

Migration log

If your migration error log contains many copies of the following error:

<message code="ExecCliGate::InternalServerError" severity="error"><context>void plesk::CliExec::analyzeResponse()</context><file>./cmd_exec.cpp</file><line>179</line><text>Internal server error: <cli><failure>MySQL query failed: Unknown column 'object_name' in 'field list'</failure></cli></text></message>

And contains the following summary:

Stderr is
Mailing list support is not installed or not properly configured.

This means that the Horde mailing lists for your server didn't migrate properly. This is normal when migrating from an older version of Plesk. See this Parallels forum discussion:

• http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?p=435180#post435180

Apache error

If you see the following error in Plesk:

• Error: New files of configuration for Apache web server were not built due to errors in configuration templates. The detailed error message was e-mailed to you, so please check the e-mail, fix the errors, and click here to retry generating configuration.

Figure 13

This likely means that you had some domain-level Apache configuration files that were migrated from your previous server. Check in your /var/www/vhosts/example.comi>/conf/ folder for each domain. If you see any vhost.conf files, rename them, then click the link in Plesk to try again. You may not receive the email mentioned in the error.

See this Parallels forum discussion for more information: http://forum.parallels.com/printthread.php?t=105566.

Business model warning

If you see the following warning in Plesk:

• Parallels Plesk Panel 10 employs a new business model. The essential business objects were automatically converted during the upgrade: clients were converted to customers, domains to subscriptions, and so on. However, several extra steps are required to complete switching to the new model. The steps depend on the way you used a previous version of Plesk to organize your business, so they cannot be performed in a fully automatic manner. Please complete switching to the Panel 10 business model.

Figure 14:

This means that some of your Clients weren't properly converted into Customers. This is common when migrating from a Plesk 8.6 server with the default "My Domains" Client. To resolve this error:

1. Click on the link in the error.
2. Click on the Selective Transition of Customers tab. See Figure 15:
   

   
   Figure 15: Click on Selective Transition of Customers.

3. Click on the check box to select all of the Clients from your old server. Then, click the Apply Transition Scheme button. Select Subscription inherits from the Client, or another option if desired. See Figure 16:
   

   
   Figure 16: Choose the resource allocation for your new Subscription(s).

4. Check the box next to the description, then click Yes. See Figure 17:
   

   
   Figure 17: Check the box and click Yes.

That's it. Your Subscriber/Customer setup should now be similar to your Client setup on your old server.

Running out of space

Make sure you have the rsync box checked in your migration settings! Otherwise, you won't be able to migrate from a server that has over 50% disk space used (at least, not all at once).

Error: No migration agents found.

You may get the following error in Plesk: No migration agents found. Data migration is not available.

See Figure 18:

Figure 18. Plesk migration error.

This error is caused by having a root .bashrc file with custom elements in it. In earlier (dv) Dedicated-Virtual Server 3.5 servers, (mt) Media Temple automatically included some shortcuts in the .bashrc file. These need to be deleted from the file (along with any other custom elements you may have added).

You can locate your .bashrc file in /root/, also accessible via ~/.

Your file should contain ONLY THE FOLLOWING information (delete everything else):

# .bashrc

# User specific aliases and functions

alias rm='rm -i'
alias cp='cp -i'
alias mv='mv -i'

# Source global definitions
if [ -f /etc/bashrc ]; then
. /etc/bashrc
fi

Please see http://kb.parallels.com/8495 for additional information on this error.

Migration settings errors

• Host xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is not accessible
  • Make sure the domain name or IP address that you typed in does resolve to your old server.
  • Make sure that your username is root and that you have the correct root password. (This is not the same as your admin password.) See (dv):Enable root access for details.
  • There may be a network error.
  • Or, just start over with a new migration attempt.
• Cannot migrate because the username or account name is invalid
  • Make sure you have not created any users on your new server already that have the same name as a user on your old server. Delete duplicate accounts from the new server, then try again.

Migrating from (dv) Dedicated-Virtual Server 3.0

If you performed the PHP5 upgrade to your (dv) Dedicated-Virtual Server 3.0, you will need to reverse those steps by following this article: (dv):Revert manual settings for PHP 5.

Migrating from (dv) Dedicated-Virtual Server 2.0

The (dv) Dedicated-Virtual Server 2.0 information has not yet been tested. Feel free to update this section with your results if you migrate from (dv) Dedicated-Virtual Server 2.0 to 4.0

• Note that your system paths have changed. Paths are no longer like /home/httpd/vhosts/example.com/. Paths are now like /var/www/vhosts/example.com/. This may affect some of your site settings, such as session save paths.

SSH

If you can't connect to your new server with SSH, you may need to reset your SSH known hosts file. See SSH known hosts warning for details.

Change DNS settings

Now, you can point your domains to your new server. If you host DNS with (mt) Media Temple, see (mt):Point to another server. If you host DNS elsewhere, update your DNS records to use your new IP address(es).

Double-check migration accuracy, cancel old service

Once you have fully tested your new server, and have confirmed that your DNS changes have propagated, you can close your old (dv) Dedicated-Virtual Server. See Close a service or account.

You now have the option to update the primary domain of your new server, if desired.

Getting started

There are a few things you will need before you can migrate your sites to a new (dv) 3.5 / Nitro server:

• The domain name of your old server
• The root password for your old server. If you do not already have this please visit the following KnowledgeBase Article.
• You must have at least 50% disk space that is unused in order to be able to move all of your sites at once. If you are over 50% you will need to reduce the disk usage, attempt moving your domains one at a time, or temporarily upgrade to the next plan. If none of these are an option for you, please contact our Support Department for assistance.
  
  

  NOTE:

  It is important to know the Plesk Migration Manager does not clone a server running plesk, but rather it merely moves over client data.  Custom Firewall setups, php settings, and other settings may not be copied to the new server. Its also important to know that contact and filter settings for all email users using the Horde Webmail client is not copied over as well. For more information on how to export data from Horde, please visit http://kb.parallels.com/en/6158.

Walkthrough

1. Order your new (dv) 3.5 / Nitro server through the AccountCenter. The new server cannot have the same domain as your current (dv) for migration purposes.
   
   

   NOTE:

   Since the purpose of this new service is for migrating an existing service please use a temporary (placeholder) name, AND not a subdomain for an existing service.
    
   Since you have a wildcard entry in your DNS Zone for your existing service this will not work.  Please just use some random characters followed by .com, e.g. eriorqjkldsjfkldj.com

   After you have successfully migrated to the new server you can change this domain to whatever you like.
2. Check the disk usage on your (dv) through Plesk. if you are over 50% usage we suggest migrating one domain at a time. The migration manager makes a copy of all of your data on the old server before putting it on the new server, if you run out of disk space the migration will most likely fail.
3. While you are in the AccountCenter we suggest lowering the time to live (TTL) for each domain you would like to migrate. This will ensure a smoother migration and reduce the chances of lost email. This can be done by navigating to your domain in the AccountCenter, clicking on the "Edit Zone" button near the bottom and then the "Lower TTL value" button. If you do not host your DNS with (mt) you should contact your DNS administrator to have them do this step for you.
4. Wait at least 12 hours for the DNS changes to take effect. Your sites will stay up, no data is being moved, no email will be lost.
5. Once your new server has been provisioned you will get your service activation letter with information including the Plesk login URL and administrator password. Use this info to log into your new (dv) 3.5 / Nitro and complete the setup steps, we suggest leaving the "Create a default client" option checked. Please be sure that the server is NOT named with the same domain as your old server, this will break the migration.
6. Once you have set up your new (dv), navigate to the Migration Manager by clicking on "Server" on the left and then "Migration manager" near the center of the screen. Once in the Migration Manager click on "Start a new migration" to begin the process.
7. Under the "Migration" heading fill in the domain name of your old server and leave the bullet next to "root" checked. Type your root password in the next field and leave everything else with the default values. The screen should look something like this when you are finished:
   
   
   Click the "Next >>" button to proceed.
   
   

   NOTE:

   If you get an error that looks like this:

   cannot migrate because the username or account name is invalid 

   It is probably because you have created an account on the new (dv) with the same username as on your old (dv), this is unnecessary so please delete any duplicate accounts on your new (dv) prior to beginning a migration.
   
   If you get an error like:

   Cannot sent scout to the remote host Unable to connect to the host domain.com: you have specified incorrect username or password

   It is because the new (dv) is named with the same domain as your old (dv), please use the IP address of your old (dv) instead of the domain name.
8. If you are using over 50% of your disk space on the old server you should use the option to "Select objects that you wish to migrate from host". This way you'll be able to move one domain at a time to avoid running out of disk space. You can check your disk usage on the old server by clicking on the advanced tab in the migration manager, shown below. If you were under 50% disk usage you may select the option "Migrate all clients and domains" and leave the rest of the default values, it should look something like this:
   
   
   Click the "Next >>" button.
9. If you were hosting more than one domain on your old (dv) server you were probably using a shared IP address. On this next screen you must change the IP address on your new server from exclusive to shared. Do this by clicking on the "IP Addresses" button near the top right of the screen.
   
10. On the next screen click on the crown symbol next to your IP address to change it from exclusive to shared. Then click on the link near the top of the screen that reads "Migration from mt-example.com"
11. This step will take up to a few hours depending on how large the migrating sites are. You can safely navigate away from the status page or even log out of Plesk to let it complete. While your domains and clients are moving the page will look something like this:
    
12. When your migration is complete we suggest you test your sites using the "Site Preview" button available through Plesk.
    
    

    NOTE:

    If you performed the PHP5 upgrade KB article to your (dv) you will need to reverse those steps by following this article: Reverting PHP5 for (dv) 3.x after migrating to a (dv) 3.5

13. Once you have confirmed everything is working modify the DNS for your domains to point at the IP address of the new server. If you are hosting your DNS with (mt) Media Temple (ns1.mediatemple.net, ns2.mediatemple.net) you may complete this step through the AccountCenter by navigating to your old server and clicking on the "Point to Another Server" link. This must be done for every domain you want to migrate to your new server.
14. After 5 minutes you should see that your domains are now pointing to your new server. Please note that if you did not follow step 3 or if you host your DNS elsewhere this step may take up to 72 hours.
15. You may want to do (dv) hotmail and yahoo mail spam flagging issue to prevent email sending issues to Hotmail or Yahoo.
16. If you are having issues connecting to ssh, this article SSH known_hosts issues will help you fix this error.

The migration of your sites is now finished, please be sure to double check that everything is working before you close your old (dv) service through the AccountCenter.

/home/httpd/vhosts/mt-example.com

/var/www/vhosts/mt-example.com