[CentOS] Moving files to new server

[Les Mikesell]

On Sun, 2006-03-05 at 09:20, Thomas E Dukes wrote:

> I can put both online but have never used rsync nor dump.  The old pc is
> old! A P3-450, 18GB HD.  The new one is a P4-3.0Ghz with 1GB ram.  The way
> CentOS will do the partitions will probably be different than from the old,
> especially the SWAP.  The old system has been upgraded numerous times since
> RedHat 8.0.  I like the idea of a fresh install but want to make sure I have
> everything working on the new without missing something I installed on the
> old one.
> 
> Decisions, decisions.............

Version-level upgrades are always a bad idea because they can
leave old stuff around.  I'd recommend taking this opportunity
to clean things up with a fresh install and only copy over
the contents of the home directories and any ftp or web sites
that might be set up.  Bring the new machine up with a
different IP and name at first, then copy over things
and configure it to match the old one, keeping a log of
anything you have to do that isn't completely obvious.
You can copy files with 'scp file newmachine:/path' or
directories or files with:
rsync -av -essh source newmachine:/path/to/target.
Copy over /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, /etc/group, /etc/gshadow
and rsync the /home directory and any directories containing
web or ftp sites.  If you have trouble configuring any
services, copy the old config file over to a new name on
the new machine and diff them to see what you might have
missed.  When everything appears to be working, shut down
services on the old one, rsync /var/spool/mail and repeat
the rsync of /home and anything else that might have changed
(these will go fast because rsync only copies changes).
Change the name and IP on both the old and new machine and
reboot.   Note that routers may cache the ARP for the old
mac address and have trouble reaching the changed IP for
as long as 20 minutes, but machines on the same net should
switch immediately (just in case you are working remotely...).

If you find you missed anything later, you still have it
on the old machine.

-- 
  Les Mikesell
    lesmikesell at gmail.com