WHM’s transfer tool is a popular method for migrating accounts from DirectAdmin to cPanel, but it may fail when the website content is large. In such cases, manual account migration is a viable workaround.

This article outlines the best practices for manual DirectAdmin to cPanel migration with minimal downtime, as performed by Site Hosting Club cPanel specialists.

So lets learn the Step-by-Step Process for DirectAdmin to cPanel Migration with Minimal Downtime.

Pre-Migration Checks

To avoid any issues during migration, proper pre-migration checks are crucial. The following are the major areas that cPanel specialists focus on to ensure seamless migration of accounts:

Lowering DNS TTL

During the migration process, DNS record updates are a crucial step. To minimize potential delays in DNS propagation, our Migration Engineers lower the Time to Live (TTL) values of the domain’s DNS records prior to the migration. By reducing the TTL value, the DNS changes are quickly propagated.

To ensure a smooth transition, we also provide advance notice to all domain owners about the migration, allowing them to make any necessary changes to their custom Nameservers.

Version Compatibility Check

Volume of Data

In the pre-migration check, we also verify that the new server has sufficient disk space to accommodate the backup of the accounts.

Ideally, the hard drive of the new server should have a capacity of at least 1.5 times that of the old server to prevent disk full issues during migration.

Actual Steps for Migration

The following are the steps involved in manual DirectAdmin to cPanel migration:

0. Login to DirectAdmin Server using SSH

We use SSH Client like Putty to login to your Directadmin server as ‘root’ user.

1. Compiling the Domain List

Initially, we compile a list of domains on the DirectAdmin server that require migration. This is done using a script offered by cPanel, which can be obtained at the following link:

wget http://httpupdate.cpanel.net/cpanelsync/transfers_DEVEL/pkgacct/updateuserdomains-universal

Then we download the actual script to package account using the command:

wget http://httpupdate.cpanel.net/cpanelsync/transfers_DEVEL/pkgacct/pkgacct-da

We provide executable previleges for the scripts:

chmod +x updateuserdomains-universal
chmod +x pkgacct-da

Next, we run a command that generates a plain text file located at /etc/trueuserdomains. This file includes a comprehensive list of accounts that can be packaged.

./updateuserdomains-universal

2. Packaging Accounts

Once we have the list of accounts, we use the “pkgacct-da” script to package each account into a single file.

For example, to package an account with username “shc“, we use the command

./pkgacct-da shc

The packaged account file will be saved in the /home directory as “cpmove-shc.tar.gz”.

3. Transferring Accounts to new CPanel Server

Next, we transfer the packaged account files to the new cPanel server using SCP (secure copy) protocol.

For instance, we can use the following command to transfer the file to the new server:

scp /home/cpmove-shc.tar.gz [email protected]:/home

Here we need to substitute x.x.x.x with the IP address or Hostname of new cPanel server. The backup file will be copied to the /home directory.

Optional – Repeat Step 2 and Step 3 for every user you wish to migrate to the new server.

4. Restoring Accounts

Finally, we restore the packaged accounts on the new cPanel server by running the commands –

cd /home

/scripts/restorepkg cpmove-shc.tar.gz

Our support engineers then use the temporary URL to check if the website is working correctly and all its sub-links and functionalities are functioning as expected.

If there are multiple accounts to be migrated, we move them in small batches and repeat the process.

Once everything is working as expected, we update the DNS records and remove the cpmove files from the server, completing the migration process.

Conclusion

Manual migration of an account from DirectAdmin to a cPanel server requires a series of steps to be performed carefully to minimize downtime.

This article should be sufficient for you to complete the migration process without errors.

Our cPanel specialists at Site Hosting Club are experienced in identifying potential risks and executing the migration smoothly.