Upgrade to 8.2 in Virtuozzo managed by HSPc

[galaxy]

I've just completed my migration from HSPc 3.2.2 to 3.3.1 and lots of php scripting. I have plesk 8.0.1 running in a VPS with HSPc showing the 7.5.3 templates in them, but it was upgraded with the internal "auto-updater". I've been getting errors with it on things like the Vault, so I'm leery about using it for an upgrade to 8.2. Note that the Plesk is running in a Fedore Core 1 (yes, thats fc1), so its somewhat limiting.

The recommended approach from support was to upgrade/install psa templates via the HSPc control panel. I've been playing with this on other VE's starting with the exact same configuration as the live one and its been a nightmare so far. (still haven't successfully upgraded yet).

I was wondering which approach would be best to upgrade:

1. upgrade via auto-installer
2. upgrade via rpm's
3. upgrade via virtuozzo templates by command line
4. upgrade via HSPc control panel
5. install fresh on a new distro (centos or fc6?), use migration utilities to move the data, (then somehow tell the hspc node about the move?)

I personally like the idea of #5 so that I can get to a newer and more supported OS and get newer applications as well. I could also thoroughly test the new server with customizations prior to actually migrating data. The only question on this approach would be how does HSPc learn of the migration?

 

[barroba]

After a lot of testing, I have come up with this procedure to change domains already present in HSPc from one plesk server to another. It is a bit "risky" but bear with me:

1) Do not have new server added to HSPc. If you have it there, delete it.
(Note that to be able to delete it, you cant have any subscriptions there or HSPc wont let you delete the server).

2) Migrate all the domains you want or can fit into new server by migrating the customers. If you migrate domains only, you will have to create accounts for each customer in new server.
(Note that this procedure I'm describing will only let you import once).

3) Make inventory of Domain Name, Account Number, Hosting Plan and Expiration of domains to be moved. (You'll se why in step 5)

4) Make sure all domains in new node are "Active". Take note of those that arent so you can disable them later. If any warnings/errors ocurr during migration, solve them here. Any osCommerce sites will probably require to change sessions dir in php.ini to /tmp or something like that.
NOTE: HSPc will only read active domains from the server.

5) Once step 2 is complete, disable those customer's notifications and then delete (terminate) one by one the subscriptions to be moved. Make sure there are no conflicts or anything tying each of the old subscriptions to HSPc.
(This is why the procedure is risky)

6) After you have finished removing subscripions, add "new" plesk node to HSPc.

7) After 20-30 minutes, the domains will show up in Conflicts Manager>Plesk Domains

8) Resolve each DOMAIN conflict assigning the hosting plan, customer, period and expiration. (This is why you made step 3)
NOTE: Make sure you resolve domain conflicts, other wise you'll be migrating Plesk Clients (Multi-Domain Hosting plans) and not the actual domains and their hosting plans.
NOTE 2: Since you are creating a new subscription in regards to HSPc, every subscription will start on this day. You may want do schedule this near the end of the month since many customers prefer that billing date.

9) Re-enable notifications (disabled in step 5) to customers.

10) Notify customers of new features, etc.


And thats about it. I have searched everywhere but Parallels doesnt have any documentation on this kind of move.
It is a DEFINITE must have on new versions of HSPc, automating this process.

If any Parallels tech reads this, let me know if I left something out or if there is a better way.