Question Guide to migrate plesk to the same server after new installation

[PeterKi]

I am looking for a guide to transfer my plesk settings to the same server after a new installation.
As the support for ubuntu 16.04 expires in 4 months I want to re-install my vServer with ubuntu 18.04 without losing my plesk settings.
In the plesk migrator extension I cannot find how to export my settings to a cloud space and then import them on the updated server.
The guides I found always assume that I have 2 servers running at the same time to do a live migration.

 

[Bitpalast]

You cannot use Migrator for this. Instead, create a full backup to an external FTP storage space, then install your new server, install Plesk to your new server, then use the backup manager of Plesk to restore that new server from the full backup.

 

[learning_curve]

@PeterKi We've recently completed a server / plesk migration, because Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS is now also 'out of date' albeit It's still officially supported for some time yet. All the references that we looked at, were just as you stated; '...2 servers running at the same time...' to achive this, as indeed was our own when we carried out the migration. The answer just posted above ^ is probably the best option to meet your specific requirements, but, if you do / can achieve migration using 2 servers etc then Post #2 in here is the answer, because unless we missed it, there's no official script or guide on how to do the same thing (although you could write your own - see post #3) Input - Plesk Migrator: One Plesk Server to a New Plesk Server

 

[pleskpanel]

It's a bit speculative but a migration approach is safer in that you have the concept of a process restart while backing up, destroying the original source, and restoring means that everything is pinned on that one backup's integrity without much recourse should the restoration process fail.

 

[PeterKi]

Thanks for directing me to "backup" instead of the "migration tool".
It was not clear to me that I can restore a backup to a newer version of the operating system.
I still wonder if restoring the backup to a new server will keep my imap folders and the let's encrypt certificates intact.
@learning_curve: I know that ubuntu 20LTS is out since April 2020 but my provider doesn't offer it yet with plesk. So I need to migrate to 18LTS and hopefully next year to 20LTS.

 

[Bitpalast]

Yes it is possible to restore a backup from an older version to a newer version. Mostly the backups will restore everything in Plesk, if the newer Plesk features all the extensions that the older Plesk had. At least if the backup was checkmarked "green". In some cases, restores don't work, so @pleskpanel is definitely right to recommend installing a new server, migrating and then cancelling the old server instead of deleting everything and hoping that the restore can restore it later.

 

[PeterKi]

Migrating to a new server has some drawbacks though, as it requires domain migration and has hostname and IP related issues.
My provider offers daily backup snapshots, so I am quite safe in that I can always revert to a snapshot if something fails dramatically.
They also offer a special directory on the vServer which is not overwritten on a new install, so I am planning to do a manual full backup to that directory.
Alas, the GUI does not offer a manual full backup to a specific location, so I need to figure out how to do it on the command line.
I also found a list at Backing Up and Restoration which describes items which are not included in the plesk-backup and I need to investigate if there are other settings outside of plesk.

 

[pleskpanel]

If your data center environment allows for IP re-assignment and you'd prefer to take a slightly "safer" route, you can migrate to a new server (using its new IP), test a site on the new server by pointing to the "new IP", and then swap the IPs so that there isn't a DNS implication for website visitors.