Debian Upgrade

[jeremya]

For that, i would recommend you discuss it with support directly. Since i would recommend a time frame of overlap (one where both VPS' are active until fully migrated and tested), i can't confirm specifically how that would work. They're available 24/7 at 1 (866) 289-5091.

[juc1]

For that, i would recommend you discuss it with support directly. Since i would recommend a time frame of overlap (one where both VPS' are active until fully migrated and tested), i can't confirm specifically how that would work. They're available 24/7 at 1 (866) 289-5091.

Yes I agree about the overlap. If I email should I use vps@myhosting.com or something else?

Thanks

[tima]

You can email support@myhosting.com if you prefer.

[juc1]

You can email support@myhosting.com if you prefer.

Ok thank you.

[juc1]

My current VPS has only one important domain. So I think I need to set up a new VPS and copy / test the website on a dummy domain name. Once the testing comes back ok how will the real domain name be transferred from the old VPS to the new VPS and will this involve any significant downtime? If possible I just want to swap the dummy domain name for the real domain name ie for the real domain name to point to the existing data on the new VPS dummy domain rather than having to re-load all the data to the real domain name.

Thanks

[jeremya]

Hi Juc,

In theory, all you should have to do is update your DNS accordingly. The way you do this depends on a few things though, but the absolutely simplest shortest route is modifying the IP address in your DNS to that of your new VPS. This may not be the best way however depending on your long term goals, so its best to understand that before many other recommendations are provided. Are you running a control panel on your VPS? (Plesk or cPanel/WHM)?

[juc1]

Hi Juc,

In theory, all you should have to do is update your DNS accordingly. The way you do this depends on a few things though, but the absolutely simplest shortest route is modifying the IP address in your DNS to that of your new VPS. This may not be the best way however depending on your long term goals, so its best to understand that before many other recommendations are provided. Are you running a control panel on your VPS? (Plesk or cPanel/WHM)?

Yes, Plesk 9.5.3

Thanks

[jeremya]

Yes, Plesk 9.5.3

Thanks

Hi Juc,

One last question is whether you've setup your domain(s) using private nameservers or if they're pointed to ns.myhosting.com, ns2.myhosting.com and you're syncing the domains to Plesk in myhosting.com onCloud?

In either case, i think i would setup your new box as if it were to be standalone (using private nameservers at the end of the day). The reason being that if you remove domains from Plesk on the original configuration, it will delete the website entirely from your Plesk box; this doesn't make for a smooth transition.

> Setup Both VPS
So instead, with box boxes live and ready, use the Plesk Migration automation tools to get your data moved onto the new server. Keep in mind, it will prompt you to map things like domains to IPs etc so be sure your boxes are configured with the same sets of features.

> Validate the new VPS Website
Once everything is migrated, you can test your website functionality with a host record modification on the computer you want to access the new site from. Doing this is described in our KB at http://myhosting.com/kb/Modifying_your_HOSTS_file. Key thing here is ensuring that after you've done this, that your DNS is resolving to the new IP and not the old one before testing... otherwise you're just testing the old site again . To check if the new IP is resolving, you could either change one character on the new VPS website to ensure you're viewing the right one, or use the command line in Windows to validate your host file change. Open up a command prompt (run cmd.exe) and type "ping yourDNSmodifiedDomainHere.com".

> Validate the new VPS email
This will only validate your website, testing incoming email is much trickier before actually modifying your DNS, that said though, if you have an hour or so to do this where downtime could be OK, you could go into your old Plesk box, and modify the DNS IP addresses for one of your domains. Wait till it resolves (10 minutes or so) and check that the DNS is resolving using previously described methods and validate your email on the new box.

> Undo Validation Modifications
Once everything is resolving properly, reset the configuration changes you made to validate so no further confusion is possible.

> Setup the new DNS configuration
So, having decided Private Nameservers is the way to go, see our document here for complete configuration. Its a one time thing and then every domain name you add directly to Plesk is ready so long as your set your nameservers properly. Plesk handles the rest. http://myhosting.com/kb/Getting_Star...your_Linux_VPS

> Closing tasks
Wait 12 hours or so and revalidate by shutting down your old VPS (do not cancel yet) and checking email and websites. If everything still works, cancel away


So it's not a simple process, but there is help. Check out:

Parallels Migration Tools Best Practices > KB Parallels
Plesk 10.4 Migration Guide > http://www.parallels.com/fileadmin/p...tion-guide.pdf
Parallels Also offers support for Upgrades > https://www.parallels.com/support/pl...e11assistance/.

[juc1]

@ Jeremya thanks for this. I am not at this stage yet so I will come back to this later. Since I will have a new VPS I hope to take the opportunity to do other stuff like install cacti and upgrade the CMS. Then I will need to test the upgraded website on the new VPS with a dummy domain for a good few days. Therefore the data on the new VPS won't be a straight copy of the old VPS. So hopefully, after testing, the data on the new VPS can stay as it is and only the domain name needs to change.

Thanks