[BlueOnyx:19227] Re: Consolidating servers - Anything I need to beaware when doing CMU Export/Import?

[Jim Scott]

Chuck,

>The site numbers will be a small issue, just requiring some work.  

>The CMU system will automatically renumber sites as they are imported.  That causes some problems with things like CMS systems (Joomla, Wordpress, etc...).  Those CMS systems usually require a hard link to their root directory.  So while they might have been /home/.sites/79/site9 on the >old box, the will be something else on the new.  Just be ready to go into each site with a CMS, figure out what the new full path is, and put in the config file. 
Ran into a few issues for customers that had wordpress configured. For whatever reason a number of sites did not get properly setup to point to the site database. I had to create a new DB for those sites and then import the DB from the old DB to the new and reconfigure wp config to use new settings.

>But you'll also run into another problem that will be more difficult to resolve! 

>In our case, we have been consolidating servers for years.  At one time, we had around 12 BlueOnyx servers.   Mostly because we were using the Nuonce SPAM filtering software, and it gobbled up so much CPU/memory resources - that we couldn't put as many sites/users on each server.  So >more servers. 
Yep, we did the same thing, having started with cobalt servers that had limited resources.

>But as we moved away from that - we wanted to consolidate.  That's when we started running into username problems.  Since it was before the "site prefix" had been implemented - we started running into conflicts in usernames.  Two or three different sites would all have a username >"john", or "admin".  Obviously, both sites couldn't be imported to the same server without renaming one of those site's user.  And luckily, CMU gives you the ability to do it automatically during the import. 
>But now, you're calling customers and telling them that their username "admin" they've used for years has changed to "admin1" or "admin2".  Their e-mail has changed with the username change, so you've got to in and put the old username as a alias for that user.  And sometimes, software >they had running on the site has to be changed to new user ownership.  All in all - a real PIA! 
Thank you for the heads up. I was able to build a test box and then backed up each server and then test imported on each consolidated box to see what conflicts would arise. Fortunately I did not have many conflicts and was able to resolve all of them prior to the migration. 



>I'm currently trying to consolidate the last five servers we have into one 5209R.  But that username conflict is a real problem, and the current holding point.  Luckily, a lot of customers these days are forking out the $$ to do hosted exchange for e-mail - and that eliminates the problem with >usernames.  

>But the best advise I can give any BlueOnyx administrator -- ALWAYS use the site prefix when setting up a new customer/site.  It may be a little challenging, explaining that prefix need to customers.  But it will save you a world of pain later on! 
While I agree site prefix would help in consolidating, customers often are confused by them and having to explain why we use them makes for an odd conversation. I used to go on to a brand new box and create a series of accounts with common names like sales, support etc.. so that those would not be available and would force them to use something more unique themselves. 
Thanks again for your feedback, it was very helpful.
Jim


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