Dear Friends,
It's time to upgrade our old "Barracuda" server! It's has been online for more than 5 years and became obsolete (hardware and software). We're planning to move all websites from BARRACUDA server to new one with much faster dual Intel CPUs (E5-2670 v2), 128 GB DDR4 memory and, most importantly, brand new Samsung SATA SSD disks (Enterprise edition for data centers) for fast and safe data access/storage.
This task has been scheduled for April 26th - April 28th, 2020.
UPDATE #1 04.26.2020 17:50 EST: server upgrade has been completed, all accounts have been copied over. Please replace "barracuda" with "bear" in your bookmarks and email settings (incoming and outgoing email servers). DNS have been updated and propagated. If you use external DNS, please contact us for correct host IP ("A" record). Thank you!
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DNS: will remain the same
IP: host IP will change. Please contact us for new IP as soon as we initiate transfer (we'll update this article).
Server ID (name of your server): will change. New server ID: BEAR
PHP: old PHP 4 will be removed completely. Please consider script upgrades (current PHP version is 7.2). PHP 5.6 will be available on the new server for short period of time. You can use it at own risk.
DOWNTIME: none. We'll copy all websites from one server to another in live mode.
It's good time to generate own backups! Please generate backups via cPanel > Backup > Generate full cPanel backup then download it to local computer or upload to cloud storage. We cannot guarantee availability of backups.
If you have any questions about server upgrades / account transfers, please drop a ticket to our 24/7/365 Help Desk: https://helpdesk.westnic.net/hc/en-us/requests/new
Possible issues after upgrade:
Internal server errors (500)
1. Your website may produce 500 error or "internal server error" right after transfer. This issue caused by outdated PHP version used by your website. Your options are: a) upgrade PHP scripts (Joomla, Wordpress etc) then use current PHP 7.3 or b) downgrade to PHP 5.6 within cPanel > PHP > MultiPHP > Select 5.6 version, your website then hit "apply" button. Changes should take effect within 5 minutes (it's not instant). Please note: PHP 5.6 has been officially depreciated - there are no security updates nor patches. Use it with caution! If you need any assistance with this procedure, please contact us via Help Desk at any time.
2. Some variables within .htaccess may conflict with current version of Apache. Please check .htaccess file via cPanel file manager or FTP program. If you don't see .htaccess file within cPanel file manager, please find "settings" button on the top right corner, select "Show hidden files (dotfiles)".
Email issues
1. Your email client will eventually stop receiving any emails. This is normal because server ID has been changed. Please open email settings then replace barracuda with bear once we complete all transfers.
2. Non-secure SMTP ports (25 and 2525) didn't change but we advise all customers to use SSL/TLS protocols (secured email): 995 (POP3) and 465 (SMTP). For IMAP SSL, please use 993.
3. Some emails may bounce back due to unknown email server reputation. It may take up to 1 week to gain positive score across major networks. If your business rely on email communications, please consider redundant email services (MX).
4. Please note that MSN/Hotmail/Outlook and Yahoo no longer accept any forwarders set within cPanel > Mail. We've seen permanent blacklists on some servers. To prevent such issues, please use gmail for all forwarders. It's free and reliable.
DNS issues
If you use external DNS, host IP must be changed. Please contact us for new "A" record IP.
Some PHP scripts are missing within Softaculous
Those scripts were removed from archive due to inactivity (vendors haven't updated scripts for more than 2 years). Outdated scripts may cause various abuse issues. However, you can always add those scripts back. Please drop a ticket with following information:
- Script category, for example, "Blogs";
- Name of your PHP script.
Folder is empty (missing files)
In some extremely rare cases, files inside folders with permissions 000 will not be transferred over. You may wish to update permissions to 700 then backup manually by May 2nd. You can transfer files via FTP or generate full cPanel backup via cPanel > Backup > Generate full cPanel backup.
Backups
As soon as we finish account transfers, we'll generate last backup for all websites on "barracuda" server. After that, backup will be moved to our cloud storage in New York and Munich, Germany. It will be stored there for entire year, until May 1st, 2021. You may retrieve old backup at any time (free of charge). If you need old backup, please drop a ticket to our Help Desk.
New backups will be automatically processed on "bear" server next Sunday, May 3rd. You can download them at any time via cPanel. It's HIGHLY recommended to keep backups on own computer! Please generate them at least once per 3-4 months or prior any website/script upgrade. We cannot guarantee availability of backups.