There are four important steps we should follow when it comes to the transfer or migrate cPanel accounts among different server.
Below a simple and brief description is given on how to perform migrate cPanel .
Steps to transfer cPanel accounts
- Change the $TTL of the zone in old server
- Transfer the accounts.
- Update the nameservers.
- Change the A record of the zone file in old server
1. Change the $TTL of the zone in old server
Before one week of the scheduled transfer, all the $TTL values in the zone file must be changed to a smaller value between 30 minutes to 1 hour. This will take some time to propogate to various ISPs around the world. The change in $TTL value ensures that the fresh zone files are loaded all around the world faster and that they access the old server for a shorter duration.
2. Transfer the accounts
Transfer the account using whm. If the size of the account is more than of 300 mb then move the folder which is of larger size to another directory outside that account. Then create a symbolic link for that folder in the original directory. After the transfer of the account using whm, scp the moved folder to the new server.
Also rsync the following directories between the two servers.
- /var/cpanel
- /usr/local/cpanel
3. Update the nameserver
Change the ip address of the child nameserver at the domain registrar. There will be a propogation delay of almost 48 hours.
4. Change the A record of the zone file in old server
For the time of propogation delay the domain keeps resoling to old server. To make it resolve to new server, change the A record in the zone files of the old server.
