Migration experience: AlmaLinux 8 to AlmaLinux 9 with CWP 1.7

[size=150]Successful migration between two CWP 1.7 servers[/size]

Summary

I would like to share a recent experience migrating a hosting account between two servers running Control Web Panel (CWP).

The source server runs AlmaLinux 8.1 and the destination server runs AlmaLinux 9.8. Both servers run CWP 1.7.

The migration was performed using the native CWP-to-CWP migration procedure provided by the panel.

Background

The source server originally ran CentOS 7 and was later upgraded to AlmaLinux 8.1. That process was difficult and involved many problems. Each script failure was analyzed, patched, and tested until the migration was finally completed.

During the first two account migration attempts between these servers, CWP reported that the operation had completed successfully. However, manual work was still required to finish the transfers.

For the third attempt, the decision was made to use only the native CWP migration procedure and carefully verify the result afterwards.

Environment

• Source server: AlmaLinux 8.1.
• Destination server: AlmaLinux 9.8.
• CWP on both servers: version 1.7.
• CWP on both package: cwpsrv 1.24.0-2.
• Services involved: Apache, Nginx, Postfix, Dovecot, DNS, and FTP.

Migration result

CWP successfully completed the main migration stages:

• Account creation.
• Home directory transfer.
• Migration of the account structure.
• Creation of domains and subdomains.
• Creation of email accounts.
• Restoration of the associated configuration.

The account contained a static website. A comparison between the source and destination servers confirmed that the public files were present, and rsync was not required to complete the transfer.

The minor differences detected were related to CWP metadata and internal state files, not to the website content.

Database

The migration included the internal database associated with the account, managed by CWP as part of the common account structure.

No manual database work was required.

Email

The account contained eight mailboxes.

All mailboxes were created successfully on the destination server. The mailboxes were empty, except for one mailbox containing a single message. That message was also preserved during the migration.

Afterwards, the appropriate certificates had to be installed so that CWP could generate the correct mail server name for secure IMAP, POP3, and SMTP connections.

Post-migration verification

The following components were checked:

• Account files.
• Domains and subdomains.
• DNS zones.
• Apache and Nginx virtual hosts.
• Apache and Nginx configuration syntax.
• Email accounts and mailbox structure.
• TLS certificates for the mail services.

Conclusion

After two previous attempts that required manual work, the third attempt was successful using the native CWP procedure.

It was not necessary to:

• Transfer files manually with rsync.
• Modify internal CWP scripts.
• Rebuild virtual hosts manually.
• Create email accounts manually.
• Restore the account structure manually.

The manual intervention was limited to verifying the result and installing the mail certificates.

This experience shows that CWP 1.7 can successfully perform a CWP-to-CWP migration between AlmaLinux 8.1 and AlmaLinux 9.8, provided that the result is verified after restoration instead of relying solely on the “All files were copied” message.

After all the work performed on the source server since its former CentOS 7 installation, and after seeing the result of this migration, both VPSs finally provide a renewed sense of stability.

Third time lucky.

Question for the community

Has anyone else performed CWP-to-CWP migrations between AlmaLinux 8 and AlmaLinux 9 using CWP 1.7? Have you noticed differences between previous versions and the current migration procedure?

Cool.
Thanks for the info.