concept64
10-29-2006, 07:36 PM
Currently, I have about 20 sites and custom nameservers setup under a reseller account. I am planning to migrate all my sites over to my VDS, but I want to incur as little downtime as possible and I don't want to move all the sites at once. So I want to move my nameservers first. Here's what I'm thinking, tell me if this is doable and what complications I might encounter.
I want to switch my nameservers to my VDS, but still have the IPs point to the old server. I would move the DNS zones first and then switch the nameserver IPs with my registrar, effectively migrating my nameservers without affecting the sites at all. I hope. :-) I mean, the nameserver propagation make take a day or two, but they will both be pointing the domains to the same location. Right?
From my understanding, these are the steps involved to migrate the nameservers:
Migrate the BIND configuration for all domains
Create an /etc/remotedomains file with all my domains (also removing them from the /etc/localdomains if necessary)
Assign my new nameserver IPs to the ns1 & ns2 A records for my domain
...restart bind, of course...
Update my nameserver IPs with my registrar
Wait a few days for the change to propagate
About a week before I begin to move the sites, I would bring the TTL down to 5 minutes on all the domains, so the IP update is much quicker to propagate.
Upon completion of the nameserver migration, I can then begin migrating each site (late at night/weekend) by:
Backup the cPanel account on the old server
Restore the cPanel account on the new server (will this overwrite the current DNS zone on the server? - I'm hoping not because I want to verify the site works before the whole world does)
Switch the appropriate domains from /etc/remotedomains to /etc/localdomains
If the DNS zone isn't updated with the new server's IP, I would do this manually once I knew the site worked on the new server
Am I thinking this through correctly? Is there something I'm missing? I'm only moderately knowledgeable with all this, and I'm not afraid to admit when I don't know everything. :-)
NOTE: I forgot to mention that all my domains have ns1.mydomain.com and ns2.mydomain.com as their nameservers. The new nameservers will be exactly the same as I can't/don't want to ask all my clients to switch their nameservers with their registrar. I just want to move their sites to a new server with as little downtime and involvement as possible. Upgrading to a better system is great, but they don't need to be burdened by it. :-)
I want to switch my nameservers to my VDS, but still have the IPs point to the old server. I would move the DNS zones first and then switch the nameserver IPs with my registrar, effectively migrating my nameservers without affecting the sites at all. I hope. :-) I mean, the nameserver propagation make take a day or two, but they will both be pointing the domains to the same location. Right?
From my understanding, these are the steps involved to migrate the nameservers:
Migrate the BIND configuration for all domains
Create an /etc/remotedomains file with all my domains (also removing them from the /etc/localdomains if necessary)
Assign my new nameserver IPs to the ns1 & ns2 A records for my domain
...restart bind, of course...
Update my nameserver IPs with my registrar
Wait a few days for the change to propagate
About a week before I begin to move the sites, I would bring the TTL down to 5 minutes on all the domains, so the IP update is much quicker to propagate.
Upon completion of the nameserver migration, I can then begin migrating each site (late at night/weekend) by:
Backup the cPanel account on the old server
Restore the cPanel account on the new server (will this overwrite the current DNS zone on the server? - I'm hoping not because I want to verify the site works before the whole world does)
Switch the appropriate domains from /etc/remotedomains to /etc/localdomains
If the DNS zone isn't updated with the new server's IP, I would do this manually once I knew the site worked on the new server
Am I thinking this through correctly? Is there something I'm missing? I'm only moderately knowledgeable with all this, and I'm not afraid to admit when I don't know everything. :-)
NOTE: I forgot to mention that all my domains have ns1.mydomain.com and ns2.mydomain.com as their nameservers. The new nameservers will be exactly the same as I can't/don't want to ask all my clients to switch their nameservers with their registrar. I just want to move their sites to a new server with as little downtime and involvement as possible. Upgrading to a better system is great, but they don't need to be burdened by it. :-)