Moved over 100 Websites and hiked over 4 miles this weekend

Tales of webserver migrations

We have been planning a server move for many months. Well, we had been planning to move one of our production servers this weekend, and the other one in a couple of weeks. However, communications went out to all our clients that this was the weekend of the move so we just moved both servers at once. I was a little nervous about this at first, as there were a total of four DotNetNuke installations to move, but in hindsight, I’m glad that it’s done now. There were domain names to coordinate and A records to change, moving many gigabytes of customer information including multiple SQL server databases (DotNetNuke and non-DotNetNuke alike) and a hundred other small things, but Don and I just rolled up our sleeves and made the leap.

Our plan was to perform full backup of the configurations, both the DotNetNuke file store and the SQL database for each environment. Then, we were going to clean up some old expired portals from each of the servers, backup everything again, and FTP all the files over to the new PowerDNN server. Lastly, we would perform a server migration through the PowerDNN Control Suite to get the environments running in there new homes. We wanted to capture the look and feel of some of our older websites, so we went through each of them and took screen shots then we began to delete portals from the servers. We were met with less than positive results doing this! On one server some portals would fail the removal while others were successful. On the other server, nothing would delete and the browser would just hang and never return, nor timeout. So, being nothing if not flexible, we quickly abandoned that plan and just moved everything over from the original backups.

A couple of the backups had some issues and there is nothing quite like the sinking feeling that comes when you go to open a 4Gb zip file and it says it is corrupt. So, (insert batman scene change music here) back to the source files and instead of zipping them again, I just FTP’ed them over to the server one by one (over 185,000 files were moved from that server alone).

On to the server migrations… Now I didn’t expect that this was going to be a flawless process mind you, and so at least we weren’t surprised. However, one thing that you can count on is the support from PowerDNN. I had an issue restoring my first environment and Andrew quickly helped me through the problem that I was having. Then, a bit of testing and updating of configuration; Don’t forget to double-check your SMTP settings under host as they are probably different with a new server. In the second environment, the SQL database backup was not a DotNetNuke database, so, off we went back to the server to backup that database again. Next, we FTP’ed that over while thousands of other files are being transferred. At this point, I remember to set the priority of a file that I want transferred sooner than the others and so poof it made it over! (OK, when I say poof I mean several minutes later so it was more like pppppoooooooooooooffffff but you get the point.)

Environment number two up and running and now waiting for the last 20,000 files to make their way over to the new server… Once everything was there, tried the migration again, and of course there were a couple of issue. A quick email to PowerDNN and Nick gets back to me right away with a fix.

Start time 9:00am PST end time 9:00pm PST (11am to 11pm for Don in Chicago, thanks, buddy, for not making me get up at 7am for this!) so a full 12 hours spent on server migration. Two GoDaddy servers we emptied. The first one has been installed since 2007, and has seen lots of websites. It is a DotNetNuke v4.9.5 environment with dozens of third party modules and numerous skins installed. It made the migration successfully. The second server has been installed since 2009, and has seen even more websites. It is a DotNetNuke v5.2.3 environment with even more third party modules and skins. It also contained two other DotNetNuke environments; one is still live and the other has been retired. Over 10Gb of data FTP’ed from these servers to the new server and six databases migrated.

I would have spent many more hours doing this upgrade if it hadn’t been for the support and expertise of the PowerDNN staff. We have been using PowerDNN for almost three years now and we have always had excellent support provided when we have needed it and a remarkably quick response time that is worth its weight in gold. I have said this before - they are not the cheapest hosting provider out there, but when you need support they are worth every penny.

Oh, and before I forget, because everything was converted successfully on Saturday, my wife and I were able to get over to Agoura Hills, CA and take a nice hike in the mountains on the Modelo Trail Nag Loop on Sunday. 4.2 miles and over 2200 feet of elevation change. We walked it in just about two hours, stopping to take some photos along the way. There are a couple of them attached below.

Thanks for reading. Be sure to check out the Sprocket Report and the DIY Sprocket Solutions newsletters for some great tips and tricks from Sprocket Websites.

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James NagyJames Nagy

Co-Founder and Managing Director of Sprocket Websites, Inc.; Co-Founder Chicago Area DotNetNuke Users Group; Co-Founder and Managing Partner of J&S Tech Designs, LLC

Full biography

I am an entrepreneur - and there is nothing like being your own boss and owning your own business. I own a Consulting business, J&S Tech Designs, LLC with my wife and business partner Susan. I also own a Website Design, Development, Services & Marketing business, Sprocket Websites, Inc. with my partners Susan, Don and Kate. My passion is in helping businesses grow and prosper through use of technology and creative innovation.

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