Migrating from 8.04 to 10.04 (or 12.04)

Submitted by rjrsinc on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 09:15 Pro Licensee

We have just placed a new server and need to start migrating virtual servers to the new system. Our old server is 8.04 and since we cannot wait until Vmin is ready for 12.04, we must start moving sites to the new server and thought we could move to 10.04 and then do the canonical upgrade to 12.04, unless you feel that is not a good idea.

We must reduce the load on our system and another idea was to move two clients that are email only clients to a new install and wait for you release for 12.04 to migrate the rest of the sites.

Here are the questions:

  1. What is the best process to move sites from the 8.04 to 10.04 with Vmin on each system? (using the backup restore feature misses the mySQL tables and data)

  2. Is there a way to copy all the default and base configurations from the existing Vmin install to the new one?

I'm sure I'll have more questions but I'm either going to move the sites without email to a new server to buy time, or move our two email clients to a new server until you have the Vmin ready for 12.04.

Status: 
Closed (fixed)

Comments

Submitted by andreychek on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 10:09

What is the best process to move sites from the 8.04 to 10.04 with Vmin on each system? (using the backup restore feature misses the mySQL tables and data)

You could either do an in-place upgrade of Ubuntu, or you could migrate to a new server running your preferred Ubuntu version.

Note though that Virtualmin's Backup feature does backup any databases that were created from within it.

Details on performing a migration are here:

http://www.virtualmin.com/documentation/system/migrate

And there's notes on performing an in-place upgrade here:

http://www.virtualmin.com/documentation/system/os/ubuntu-hardy-to-lucid-...

Is there a way to copy all the default and base configurations from the existing Vmin install to the new one?

It's possible to copy the Virtualmin settings to a new server. To do that, when creating a new Virtualmin backup, go into Features and settings, and select the Virtualmin settings you would like to backup.

That will generate a virtualmin.tar.gz file, which you can then import on another server.

Submitted by rjrsinc on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 12:12 Pro Licensee

Thanks for the information. I think the migration to a new server will be less stressful since I'm fearful that the in place upgrade will cause problems if older programming does not work properly. So, regarding the first option, we should be able to use this process to perform a slow migration. We are looking to split the load between two servers, so we can perform migrations one virtual server at a time, correct? This would allow us to offload the sites and thoroughly test them. Since we'd be using different IP addresses, we would need to up date the A records for a particular site. Yes?

Also, with regard to sites that include mySQL (which is basically ALL our sites), this is something that must be done outside of the Vmin backup facility. So, I guess we'd use mySQLdump to move them site by site, yes?

Lastly, we currently have email set up and functioning really well on the existing 8.04 server (running vmin pro). Would grating those settings be done outside of Vmin also? I believe I know where all the settings are, I just want to use whatever facility you provide to hopefully make it simpler.

Submitted by andreychek on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 12:23

so we can perform migrations one virtual server at a time, correct?

Sure.

Since we'd be using different IP addresses, we would need to up date the A records for a particular site. Yes?

All the DNS records would be updated to your new IP address as you import it into your new server. So all you would need to do is change the nameservers for your domain to point to your new server.

Also, with regard to sites that include mySQL (which is basically ALL our sites), this is something that must be done outside of the Vmin backup facility. So, I guess we'd use mySQLdump to move them site by site, yes?

The vast majority of domains on a Virtualmin system use some sort of MySQL database.

The Virtualmin backup is designed to handle this.

Generating a Virtualmin backup will correctly back up any MySQL databases associated with that domain.

Lastly, we currently have email set up and functioning really well on the existing 8.04 server (running vmin pro). Would grating those settings be done outside of Vmin also? I believe I know where all the settings are, I just want to use whatever facility you provide to hopefully make it simpler.

Hmm, I'm not sure I follow what you're asking here -- but whenever you migrate domains using the Migration documentation I linked to above, the email settings for all of your Virtual Servers would be migrated along with that.

Submitted by rjrsinc on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 12:35 Pro Licensee

Sorry, I just saw that part of my message got messed up. Our overall email system (Postfix, ClamAV, Spamassassin, Postgrey, whitelists, blacklists, etc) is set up on the existing server, is there a way to make sure the base email system on the new server contains all the adjustments we made over the years? I'm not referring to individual user accounts, but rather the overall setup.

Regarding the mySQL backup, I tried the Vmin backup and restore and everything does seem to restore to the new server EXCEPT the mySQL database and tables. You referenced that this does get backed up and restored. Can you help me find what we're doing wrong?

Submitted by andreychek on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 12:57

If you've made customizations to your mail setup, where the config files for Postfix, SpamAssassin, or ClamAV were manually updated -- those would need to be manually updated again on your new system.

You would need to re-enable Postgrey, which can be done in Email Message -> Email Greylisting.

Regarding the mySQL backup, I tried the Vmin backup and restore and everything does seem to restore to the new server EXCEPT the mySQL database and tables. You referenced that this does get backed up and restored. Can you help me find what we're doing wrong?

The Virtualmin backup should generate a backup file that includes any MySQL databases owned by that particular Virtual Server.

If that's not what you're seeing -- if you generate a backup, and MySQL databases aren't being included in that, we can certainly discuss what's going on there.

If you could, open up a new support request regarding that, so that we don't have too many topics in this one request. Thanks!

Submitted by rjrsinc on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 13:18 Pro Licensee

Great. I'm going to test that out this evening and if my results show that mySQL does not go along, then I will open a ticket for that specifically. In the meantime, I'm going to try the the Vmin settings back up and restore to see how that works. I can then move a test site and take it from there.

Submitted by rjrsinc on Sun, 05/13/2012 - 13:09 Pro Licensee

I noticed that you are now listing 12.04 as officially supported. I have a Pro version and we are trying to migrate from 8.04 (Vmin 3.91 pro) to 12.04 (Vmin 3.92 GPL). Part of what we need to do is to enforce CPU and Resource limitations. I see that option in the Pro, but not in the GPL. Is it available or do I need to purchase another Pro copy so we can complete our migration?

Submitted by andreychek on Sun, 05/13/2012 - 13:18

Managing resource restrictions is a feature available in the Pro version of Virtualmin.

If you wish to be able to manage the per-user resource restrictions, you would need to have Virtualmin Pro on there to do that.

Submitted by rjrsinc on Sun, 05/13/2012 - 17:46 Pro Licensee

That's what I had thought. I will purchase a second copy of Pro so we can complete our transfer from our old server to this new one. Then I can just let the other license expire. Thanks for the clarification.

Submitted by andreychek on Sun, 05/13/2012 - 17:55

I did want to clarify that you're welcome to install a Virtualmin Pro license on two servers for the sake of a migration.

If you're just trying to move a Virtualmin Pro setup from one system to another, I'd certainly encourage you to do that. We want to make your life easier, and we're not here to nickel and dime you for licensing costs.

Submitted by rjrsinc on Sun, 05/13/2012 - 19:11 Pro Licensee

If I would be able to do that for the sake of trying to get things off our failing server, then I would really appreciate that. In the end, I may be purchasing another Pro since I do want to set up a second server for heavier email users. I have found a single server is just not enough for what we're doing.

Do I just download and install the same license I already have? I already did a clean install of Ubuntu 12.04 (base with nothing) and the GPL Vmin. Is there a way to "upgrade" the GPL to pro or should I scrap the server and start again? I've already done the 12.04 Ubuntu install about 5 times and have become very quick at it.

Submitted by andreychek on Sun, 05/13/2012 - 19:19

Yeah, you could just download the install.sh from virtualmin.com/serial/.

You could also do an upgrade by going into System Settings, and click Upgrade to Pro.

Submitted by andreychek on Sun, 05/13/2012 - 21:00

Well, I mentioned two documents above; one was for doing a migration, and the other was for doing an in-place upgrade.

The document for performing a migration is distribution agnostic, any mentions of specific distribution names and versions are purely an example.

A migration can be done to and from any distribution/version, as described in the document:

The operating system, version, and architecture don't matter during such a migration. For example, you can migrate from 32bit CentOS 4 to 64bit Ubuntu 10.04.

Submitted by rjrsinc on Sat, 05/19/2012 - 16:04 Pro Licensee

I am at the point in the migration document to restore everything from the backup. Before I do this, I have a concern and I hope you can clarify it. On the current production server, I have some servers with SSL and using their own IP instead of the shared IP of the server. If I perform a full restore for testing purposes, will it cause an IP conflict?

To clarify, if one of the domains has its own IP, when I restore it to the new prod box for testing, will it restore it with the IP assigned to the other Prod box?

Submitted by JamieCameron on Sat, 05/19/2012 - 18:56

You can actually control what happens in this case on the restore form, in the "Other restore options" section using the "IP address for restored servers".

What do you want to happen in the case of your SSL domains? For a test restore you could put them all onto the shared IP, but that means you will get SSL cert errors when accessing them on the new system.

Submitted by rjrsinc on Sun, 05/20/2012 - 10:07 Pro Licensee

I'm just running through this all to test all the servers to make sure they all work. I think we will instead restore/migrate each virtual server one at a time to test thoroughly and make them live as each tests well.