Migrating from RaQ to DirectAdmin

[tlchost]

I need to migrate a number of sites from a RaQ to a DirectAdmin server.

Looking for suggestions on a method that will have the least amouint of
downtime for resolving the domains....I'd rather be able to move the domains a few at a time, rather than one long session.

Thanks in advance.

Thom

 

[hostpc.com]

RaQ had such a unique structure, it'd be nearly (if not totally) impossible to automate the import of data from one platform to another.

I'm not sure how many sites you're talking about, but IMHO these would need to be done one at a time, just like creating a fresh new account manually (ftp, etc)

I just turned down my last RaQ machines, I'm gonna miss those old workhorses.

 

[nobaloney]

Thom,

What worked for us was:

1) create the new sites from scratch.

2) backup all the sites into one tarball; on a RaQ2, RaQ3, or RaQ4 this should work:

# tar -czvf raq.backups.tar.gz /home/sites/site*/*

3) move the tarball to the new server's admin directory:

scp raq.backups.tar.gz  [email protected]:.

Then manually untar and move the sites. Note this may not preserve the actual domain name of the moved sites.

You may be tempted to move the raqbackup.sh backups and work from them; we found them a bit more complex to work with.

If I recall correctly, all RaQs use mbox for email. Your DA server will, by default, use mbox; my suggestion is leave your new DA server at mbox until you've done a successful move; then create it to use Maildir (see the relevant Dovecot threads.

Note that RaQs use server-users for all mailboxes; DA uses two different kinds of mail-users, both server-users for the main (on the RaQ we called it site-admin) user for the main email address created with the site, and virtual mailbox users for all other email users for the site. (The advantage is you get to have thom@ for the mailbox name for each domain on the server, if you so desire.)

Rather than try to explain where everything goes, may I suggest you should probably create a domain, and mailboxes for it, manually, on your new DA server, and find the mailboxes. Then you can just move the mailboxes.

You may be able to move the mailbox passwords without knowing them, you'll have to know where the passwords are on the RaQ and where they are on DA (again, you can figure that out by creating a domain and doing some searching), and cut and paste just the passwords. Be sure to try it for a password you know works, so you'll know if the passwords are comptable.

You should find exim quite different when comparing it to sendmail, but we've found the differences are mostly in a good way.

Feel free to ask any specific questions you may come across.

Jeff

 

[tlchost]

Thom,

Feel free to ask any specific questions you may come across.

Jeff

My learning disabity got me on this....I tried this:

Moving Sites to DA Machine
create domain user
do dns

Saving information on RaQ

From the main domain directory on the RaQ
cd /home/sites/sitewhatever
tar -czvf <domain>.web.tar.gz web/
Then, send it to the DA machine
scp <domain>.web.tar.gz [email protected]ervername:.

Log into the DA machine as admin
cd to the home/<domain>/domains/domainname
untar the file which is in /home/admin
tar -xzvf /home/admin/<domainname>.web.tar.gz
Then remove the public_html
rm -Rf public_html/
Now change the /web to public_html and set permissions
mv web public_html
chmod 755 public_html
Then change the ownership
chown <username> public_html
chgrp <username> public_html

To test it...I moved the web stuff from domain a on the Raq to Domain B on the DA machine....it all seems to work(other than the cgi stuff that needs to have path adjustments)

The domain on the RaQ has some users....so:

Login as domain user
create and email accounts and ftp users

Now I'm stumped....I think I need to tar the /home/sites/sitenumber/users on the RaQ.....but where should I transer it to?

So now I'm getting real fuzzy

The user webpages in the RaQ are in /home/sites/sitewhatever/users/web
and on the DA box in
/home/domainname/domains/domainname/public_html

I think the mail stuff is identical....as the mailfiles are in /var/spool/mail on both machines

If the stuff about the user websites is correct....where should I place the tarball so that when I extract the files they end up in the right place?

After reading that it only takes 15 minutes per site, I started to laugh insanely and figured I would teach my daughter how to do it so that as I die at the keyboard she cam complete the migration.

Thanks in advance to clearing away the murkiness.

Thom

 

[nobaloney]

As I replied in an email, Thom, only the main site emails are in /var/spool/mail. (The RaQs use redirects in /spool/log/mail to /home/log/mail because their var partiions are tiny and their home partitions are much larger.)

The site virtual email addresses are all in /var/spool/virtual/example.com/ (or something like that; I'm not looking right now).

We move RaQ sites to DA machines as a commercial product, but I'm sure you don't want to hear that .

Jeff

 

[tlchost]

Thom,

What worked for us was:

3) move the tarball to the new server's admin directory:

scp raq.backups.tar.gz  [email protected]:.

Jeff

Worked one time....next attempt....the RaQ tells me the password is invalid for the DA....and then it won;t even let me connect. Nothing in hosts.deny on the DA.

Any hints appreciated

Thom

 

[floyd]

You may need to reset the password for admin.

And since you cannot see the password as you type it make sure the caps lock button is not down. I do that all the time.

 

[tlchost]

You may need to reset the password for admin.

And since you cannot see the password as you type it make sure the caps lock button is not down. I do that all the time.

Tried that...and now I get
ssh_exchange_identification: Connection closed by remote host

Thoim

 

[tlchost]

Tried that...and now I get
ssh_exchange_identification: Connection closed by remote host

Thoim

I found that the DA box was in the hosts.deny file fo sshd...so I removed it and I am back to the original error message:

Permission denied (publickey,password,keyboard-interactive).

The DA box doesn't recognize the password that I give it...but I know it's correct, since I can log in using that same name an password via SSH and web.

Is scp SSH 1 and perhaps that is not set on?

Thom

 

[floyd]

If you are really trying to scp as admin make sure that the sshd_config file has

AllowUsers admin

I did a Google search on "Permission denied (publickey,password,keyboard-interactive)" and came up with a bunch of suggestions. All revolved around config issues.

 

[tlchost]

If you are really trying to scp as admin make sure that the sshd_config file has

AllowUsers admin

I did a Google search on "Permission denied (publickey,password,keyboard-interactive)" and came up with a bunch of suggestions. All revolved around config issues.

Thanks...I tried it from another system, seems to work fine...since I am leaving the system that doesn't work, I guess I'll have to find another way to move the files.....

Appreciate the help

Thom

 

[nobaloney]

Thom,

I haven't been logging in for a few days; I've been busy.

Did you get this done?

It may be that your RaQ can only do ssh version 1 but your DA machine only accepts ssh version 2.

Have you checked for that?

Jeff

 

[tlchost]

Did you get this done?

It may be that your RaQ can only do ssh version 1 but your DA machine only accepts ssh version 2.

Have you checked for that?

Jeff

No...it's been a real nightmare. Yes, the RaQ supports SSH2....I actually got it to work once....and then I could never get the password for admin recognized...so I went through the silly circle of changing passwords at the system prompt on the DA, and when that didn't work, I tried the control panel and checked all of the available password changes.

I tried it from another non-RaQ host and it worked fine...so I can only assume something in the RaQ is hosed....or, as I used to say, "It's in the Cobalt Way, Little Grasshopper".

As an aside, I have discovered the true joy of having multiple domains under a user name....which makes for some very long and contorted path statements in some of the cgi scripts I use.

I am now at the point where I have separated customers into two groups....those that pay well and on time and others. I think I'll send the others out to adventure on their own, since the amount of work to transfer them far out weighs the income generated.

My forehead is becoming sloped from smacking it, and it is beginning to take on the pattern of the bricks in the wall....but other than that, the transition is as much fun as the Lincolns going to Ford's Theatre.

Thom

 

[nobaloney]

No...it's been a real nightmare. Yes, the RaQ supports SSH2....I actually got it to work once....and then I could never get the password for admin recognized...so I went through the silly circle of changing passwords at the system prompt on the DA, and when that didn't work, I tried the control panel and checked all of the available password changes.

I tried it from another non-RaQ host and it worked fine...so I can only assume something in the RaQ is hosed....or, as I used to say, "It's in the Cobalt Way, Little Grasshopper".

Did you try tailing the /var/log/secure log on the DA box while attempting the login, just to see if you get an error?

As an aside, I have discovered the true joy of having multiple domains under a user name....which makes for some very long and contorted path statements in some of the cgi scripts I use.

Well, just because the feature is there, you don't have to use it. If you only have one domain per user the public_html link in your /home/username directory will work fine. My recollection is that if you add multiple domains to a username the link will always point to the last one added by default, unless you change it from the control panel. In which case the next time you add a domain, it'll get changed again.

I am now at the point where I have separated customers into two groups....those that pay well and on time and others. I think I'll send the others out to adventure on their own, since the amount of work to transfer them far out weighs the income generated.

Maybe send them a letter:

After years of faithful service our old server deserves retirement, so we're moving all the domains we host to a new server. However since you haven't paid us in a while we're not sure if you still want us to host your site or if you've just forgotten to let us know you don't need our services any longer. So we've decided to only move paid-up accounts to our new server. The old server will go out of service on May 1st, 2007; please bring your account up-to-date before then if you want your domain hosted on our new server.

Might work .

My forehead is becoming sloped from smacking it, and it is beginning to take on the pattern of the bricks in the wall

Been there, done that.

....but other than that, the transition is as much fun as the Lincolns going to Ford's Theatre.

When I was a sixth-grader (about 50 years or so ago) my favorite joke was this simple one-liner:

Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?



Jeff

 

[tlchost]

Did you try tailing the /var/log/secure log on the DA box while attempting the login, just to see if you get an error?

I don't recall....as I recall...the errors were on the RaQ end.

If you only have one domain per user the public_html link in your /home/username directory will work fine.

That's hat I thought....but apparently some scripts that say "the exact path" are very literal....having /home/domainname/public_html/cgi-bin caused "Admin Interruptus", while /home/domainname/domains/domainnane/public_html/cgi-bin seemed OK...which as I reflect on it makes sense, since DA is user-tree based, rather than domain-tree based.

Maybe send them a letter:

Good idea!

When I was a sixth-grader (about 50 years or so ago) my favorite joke was this simple one-liner:
Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

I used the same line....and thought it was very funny when I used to go to Ford's Theatre...until I said it one night at some kinda gala and the person I told it to was a direct descendant of Old Abe. The saving grace, much like making posts in forums like this one, is that I quickly learned how little I know.

Thom