I’ve got a dedicated virtualmin CentOS6 server and I need to migrate to a CentOS 7 server within the same hosting company in the US.
There are no major changes to the setup required so the job shouldn’t be particularly difficult, but because the current setup runs PHP 5.5, 5.6 and 7.1 because of some older apps like a vBulletin3 installation and has a few other quirky bits it will need the attention of an linux/virtualmin expert.
I wouldn’t try the migration myself in case something goes wrong even though I do have a backup service.
I would be prepared to look at a long term relationshop and retainer as well to keep on top of things.
You’re in all likelihood going to have some major issues with that.
PHP 5 has been end of life since December of 2018.
VBulletin3 has been end of life since December 28th, 2017.
There is absolutely ZERO support for either anymore from anybody, so I don’t think you’re going to have any takers unless you agree up front that if it ends in disaster it’s going to be on you and you’ll have to pay for everything in advance.
Yes, @Gomez_Adams is correct, @cronjob781. If you must use legacy software then you should know that there is zero support and there are known and documented vulnerabilities which can be exploited in your existing C6 server and these will, for the most part, be carried forward to your C7 system as well, since you are continuing with the legacy software, so you will be skating on thin ice.
However, from the tech. standpoint, the C7 system could be setup the way it works best for your requirements, quirks and all, and I am sending you a private message about the professional services which I offer for migration between Virtualmin systems.
I’m aware of the end-of-life situations re: PHP, VBulletin and Centos6 and the reason for the migration is of course to upgrade all applications so I’m open to advice as to the best way forward - I didn’t want to get into the nitty gritty of each issue here per se, but I have obviously found myself in a bit of a chicken-and-egg scenario. Without getting into details vBulletin4 was widely considered worse than vBulletin3 and vBulletin5 has only recently become a viable option for many admins who have tight budgets.
With the option in Virtualmin to run different versions of PHP on different folders I have everything running on PHP7.1 on the current server with the exception of vBulletin. I am hoping that if I can get vBulletin3 working on a CentOS7 server with PHP5.5 and MySQL 5.6 then I’ll be able to upgrade to vBulletin5 easily enough.
I would upgrade everything BEFORE you move. That’s going to eliminate a LOT of headaches.
I would back up everything. Twice. Have two copies of it.
Then upgrade everything on your existing server. Then migrate that. It will make your life much, much easier in the long run and that way you wont have all the old, outdated junk to clean up off your new server when you move.
Thanks for the comment. Just coming back after completing this migration with Niel in case anyone find themselves in our position.
While that’s certainly good advice it depends on the context. With an OS that has reached end of life and exhibiting plenty of symptoms of what I would call ‘digital dementia’ it may not be possible to run upgrades before you migrate.
In our particular case we had a vBulletin board which needed MySQL 5.6 rather than 5.5 so we could upgrade it to the latest version. We tried to upgrade MySQL and it crashed the entire server and we were offline for more than 24 hours. The OS was a mess and there were all sorts of problems that weren’t worth addressing.
It was easier to setup the the new CentOS7 server, install a fresh up to date copy of vBulletin and import the data from the old server. Obviously, this is specific to our case, but just in case anyone does find themselves in this position it’s worth considering the context of your individual circumstances.
