Migrating from OpenVZ to Xen

Overview:

Xen VPS Hosting offers security to our customers in that the resources cannot be oversold, whereas in OpenVZ, we are able to overallocate when needed.  Xen also allows you to setup your own kernel, effectively allowing you to use a Xen VPS as if it were a dedicated server.

For those who are on OpenVZ looking to move away from the platform, the migration process is not so automated unfortunately.  It does require you to manually move your data.  This guide will give you a general basis of what data should be moved and how it is done.

Billing Overview:

In order to get started, you will need to submit a new order for your Xen service.  Once everything has been moved from your OpenVZ service to your Xen service, put in a Cancellation Request from myvirpus.com for immediate.  After this, just contact us and we'll issue a credit for your remaining unused time on your OpenVZ service.


Migration:
1. The operating systems should be identical including the versions.  To ensure this is the case, run on both the source and destination servers the following command:

cat /etc/*-release

2. Both servers should have the latest packages.  In order to do this, you may use the yum package manager to do this by running:

yum -y update
on CentOS and Fedora.

For Debian and Ubuntu, you may use the apt-get command by running
apt-get update

3. Next, you should do your initial sync between the servers.  On your Xen server, run the following command:
rsync -azv -e ssh –-exclude=/etc/fstab --exclude=/etc/securetty –-exclude=/boot --exclude=/etc/inittab --exclude=/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts –-exclude=/proc --exclude=/lib/modules/ –-exclude=/sys –-exclude=/etc/grub.conf –-exclude=/etc/sysconfig/networking –-exclude=/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts root@oldserveip:/ /

This process may take some time, so once it is finally done, run it a second time to resync any changes made.  You can also exclude non-essential paths by adding exclude directives.

4. Boot the new machine and verify that it is operatable.  Use serial console within manage.virpus.com to verify the boot process.  Change configurations if needed.

5. Stop any critical services that are updated regularly such as mail, mysql etc., and resync them.  To do this, modify the rsync command used in step 3 and use the paths of where such data would be located.  If you have managed services, consult our support team who can identify these for you.  Be sure to mention what services you are wanting to sync.

6. Next, sync the data partitions of your users of websites.  For example:
rsync -azv -e ssh root@oldserveip:/var/www/ /var/www/

Again, this is only to give you a general idea of how to migrate.  Due to many configurations that our users may be running, this guide may not work, and we make no guarantees that it will.  If you need a professional to move your data, please consult a management firm.
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