This document describes how to move virtual hosting accounts between H-Sphere physical servers within the same H-Sphere cluster. Accounts can be moved either between two Windows servers or between to Unix/Linux servers.

Account move implies:

1) transfer of
     - user account
     - all domains hosted under this account
     - home directory and its content

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.

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
• 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.

Procedures:

Account migration is carried out in two stages referred to in that document as account creation and account content move. First, the command run from the console creates identical account with an identical set of the migrated account resources on the target server. This takes about 2 minutes per account. Then the user account home directory content is copied to the target server from the source server where it is stored for one more day and then automatically deleted.

1. Account creation
• Single account creation
• Bunch account creation
2. Account content move
• Automatic content move
• Manual content move
• Content move suspension/resumption
• Content move cancelation

Account creation

Accounts can be created one by one or in bunches.

Single account creation

1. Disable SSL on all accounts where it is enabled.
2. Log into the CP server as cpanel
3. Execute the following command:
   java psoft.hsphere.tools.MoveVHostResources --accId ACCOUNT_ID --lserverId SERVER_ID
   where
   a) ACCOUNT_ID is an ID of the migrated account.
   b) SERVER_ID is an ID of the target logical server.
4. Restart H-Sphere
5. Reinstall SSL certificates on all accounts where they had been installed.

Bunch account creation

1. Create an XML file of the following structure:
   <accounts>
   <account id="ACCOUNT_ID1" serverId="SERVER_ID1"/>
   <account id="ACCOUNT_ID2" serverId="SERVER_ID2"/>
   <account id="ACCOUNT_ID3" serverId="SERVER_ID3"/>
   ................................
   <account id="ACCOUNT_IDN" serverId="SERVER_IDN"/>
   </accounts>
   where
   a) ACCOUNT_ID1-N is an ID of the account you are moving
   b) SERVER_ID1-N is an ID of the logical server you are moving accounts to.
2. Disable SSL on all accounts where it is enabled.
3. Log into your control panel server as root and execute:
   chown cpanel:cpanel /hsphere/local/home/cpanel/accounts.xml
   chmod 644 /hsphere/local/home/cpanel/accounts.xml
4. Login as cpanel
5. Execute the following command:
   java psoft.hsphere.tools.MoveVHostResources --config /path/to/the/XML
   where
   /path/to/the/XML is a path to the XML file created in step 1.
6. Restart control panel.
7. Reinstall SSL certificates on all accounts where they had been installed.

When you run command either for single or bunch account creation, the system checks if it can create identical account resources on the target server. If any identical account resource cannot be created on the target server, the system will inform you of it and won't migrate this account. If you are migrating accounts in groups, the system will skip the account for which it can't create identical set of resources. It will check the rest of the accounts specifed in the XML file and start creating them on the target server. In case there are accounts that can't be created on the target server, check what prevents the system from creating identical set of resources on the target server and try to run the command again.

Account content move

The second step of account migration implies the move of the user account home directory and its content. Depending on account home directory size and connection speed the content move may take a significant amount of time. The account home directory can be moved either automatically or manually.

 
• Automatic content move

When account has been created, cron automatically initializes the content move. By default every five minutes after account creation was intialized cron checks if the account creation has been finished and then launches the content move. To change the default, open the ~cpanel/shiva/psoft_config/hsphere.properties file, find the MOVING_CRON_PERIOD variable, and set the different value. Values are set in minutes.

 
• Manual content move

If you don't want cron to launch content move automatically (e.g.: you want to perform the content move at the time that best suits you), you need to comment the MOVING_CRON_PERIOD variable in the H-Sphere properties file. In this case the content move is initialized manually. To launch the content move manually:

1. Log into your Control Panel as admin.
2. Go to Reports- > Content Move and retrieve the account using the search utility.
   * The Started entry will show "Not Started" for accounts awaiting manual content move.
3. On the Search result page find the Controls section and click the Launch icon.

Once the content move is over, user home directory on the source server remains for one day and then is automatically deleted, including /etc/passwd, /etc/group, /hsphere/local/home/[user id]. On Winboxes, user accounts need to be removed manually, but this is fixed in H-Sphere 2.4.

To see if the content move is over:

1. Log into your Control Panel as admin.
2. Go to Reports- > Content Move and retrieve the account with the search utility.
3. The Finished entry on the Search result page shows:
     a) the time and the date when the account content move was completed;
     b) the time and the date when the account content move was last suspended;
     c) "Not finished" for accounts that their content move hasn't been completed yet.

Content move suspension / resumption

Content move cancellation

You can always cancel an uncompleted content move. The part of the content that has been already moved to the target server by the time you cancel the migration is not automatically deleted and should be deleted manually. Besides when you cancel the content move no physical resources created while account creation are removed, and if needed should be deleted manually.

To cancel the content migration:

1. Log into your Control Panel as admin.
2. Go to Reports- > Content Move and retrieve the account with the search utility.
   * Check the Only uncompleted box, to filter off all the finished account migrations.
3. On the Search result page find the Controls section and click the Delete icon.