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Migrating 12 client sites without cPanel backup access

Web Hosting by svendeal 19 replies 3.4K views
netop_mares

Member

#11

Zero downtime is nice but let's talk about the real hero: rsync with -z over a pipe. You compressed 12 wp-content folders during live traffic? Bold. I would have done -a without -z for CPU, but your way probably fine for small business sites.

The Cloudflare proxy trick only works if they were already on Cloudflare though. What if client uses Route53 or plain registrar DNS? You can check propagation with https://dnschecker.org if you need to verify the switchover.

svendeal

Member OP

Deal Sniper

#12

@netop_mares fair point. 10 of 12 were already on Cloudflare because I set them up. The 2 stragglers I moved to Cloudflare first, 24h before. Added 1 day prep but worth it.

Without Cloudflare you can still do it with TTL games. Drop TTL to 300 at old host, wait, flip, wait. Not zero but under 10 minutes. I did that for a client in 2022.

@RAJ yes VPS Starter. No panel. I run HestiaCP on mine, light and clean.

world record: 4min Arch install
KE

Member

#13

This thread is gold. Saving for later.

Quick question: how you handle email during migration? MX records stay on Cloudflare or you move to new host mail server?

svendeal

Member OP

Deal Sniper

7 #14

@Key31 email stays Google Workspace for 8 clients, Microsoft 365 for 3, one uses Zoho. I never host email on the web box, that's amateur hour. MX untouched.

If you must move email, that's a different migration. IMAP sync tools exist but I don't touch that.

world record: 4min Arch install
tamuma

Member

#15

Same here. Email on the web host is a trap. I learned that in 2009 and never looked back.

Svendeal, what about HestiaCP backups? You using v-backup or rolling your own?

svendeal

Member OP

Deal Sniper

#16

@tamuma v-backup to a Hetzner Storage Box (ironic, I know) via S3-compatible API. €3.19 for 1TB, cheaper than their old backup slot. Runs nightly, I test restore quarterly.

The Storage Box is in Falkenstein same as my old web host was. Network path was fast at least.

world record: 4min Arch install
MI

Member

#17

How much total data we talking for 12 sites? My wp-content alone is 80GB, wondering if this scales.

svendeal

Member OP

Deal Sniper

#18

@millerdump total was 23GB for all 12. Biggest site 4GB, photography client. Most under 1GB. Your 80GB is a different beast, probably need to look at storage-optimized transfer or even physical disk ship if time allows.

For big content I would add --bwlimit to rsync so you don't saturate the old host during live traffic.

world record: 4min Arch install
SP

Member

#19

Has anyone tried this with WooCommerce? I have 3 shops, worried about orders coming in during export. --single-transaction helps but MyISAM tables still lock, no?

ana_mad

Member

8 #20

@SPACE36 convert to InnoDB first if you haven't already. MyISAM is dead for transactional tables. WP-CLI has a command for it:

wp db tables --all-tables --format=csv | xargs -I {} wp db query "ALTER TABLE {} ENGINE=InnoDB"

Do this days before migration. Then --single-transaction actually works.

swimming upstream since 2019 🐟

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