Dotnetpanel Forums

Need some advice here.

I have a server that was providing Web, DNS and Mail services.  Due to load, I moved the DNS and Mail to a new server but left the Web services on the existing server.

I've purchased an additional DNP remote license and have already migrated my DNS and mail functions to the new server (by hand) but I can't figure out how to get DNP to recognize the new services on the new server.  I have added the new server in DNP and created a new Virtual Server with the new services but all the plans and domains I already have setup in DNP still want to manage the migrated services on the old server which don't exist any longer.  What can I do to link the services on the new server to the old plans/spaces in DNP?

Actually, the DNS services work properly.  I can create new domains/records and delete them and they show up on the new server.

Now if I can just get the mail services linked to the new server.

I got it.

I have to detach all my email domains from DNP and use the import tool to reimport them.

Nope, I was mistaken.  Detaching and importing doesn't work.  DNP still wants to add the service to the old server.

Is there any way I can accomplish my goal - move email to another server - without rebuilding DNP from scratch?

drapsag:

Nope, I was mistaken.  Detaching and importing doesn't work.  DNP still wants to add the service to the old server.

Is there any way I can accomplish my goal - move email to another server - without rebuilding DNP from scratch?

If I understand correctly you had one physical server with DNS - Mail - Web. You also had a virtual server with those services attached and your hosting plans are configured to use resources from the virtual server?

Then it should be enough to install DNP remote server on the new physical server, create the new physical server in DNP, remove mail from your virtual server and add mail to your virtual server (from the new physical server this time).

Of course you should migrate all mail data to your new server and make sure the paths in DNP mail service are still correct.

This is the first thing I tried and it does not work.

I even detached all the mail domains from all the existing spaces and removed the mail service from the original server, all the virtual servers and all the plans using that service.  Then I recreated the mail service in the new server and readded the service to all my plans.

Nothing works.  When I go to the import resources utility, no importable mail domains show up.  If I turn on the old mail server, the DNP sees the configuration from that server.  I have to assume DNP still wants to attach to the old server for some silly reason.  My new email server is working fine but I cannot administer it from DNP which is part of the reason I have the control panel in the first place.

I'm not really sure what to do.

drapsag:

This is the first thing I tried and it does not work.

I even detached all the mail domains from all the existing spaces and removed the mail service from the original server, all the virtual servers and all the plans using that service.  Then I recreated the mail service in the new server and readded the service to all my plans.

Nothing works.  When I go to the import resources utility, no importable mail domains show up.  If I turn on the old mail server, the DNP sees the configuration from that server.  I have to assume DNP still wants to attach to the old server for some silly reason.  My new email server is working fine but I cannot administer it from DNP which is part of the reason I have the control panel in the first place.

I'm not really sure what to do.

But after removing the "old" mail server from the virtual server and adding the "new" mail server to the virtual server, are you able to add a brand new mail domain via DNP? If even that is not working, something is wrong with the configuration of the mail service (either in DNP or the mail server itself)

Another thing, is the path to the mail domains on the new mail server the same as on the old mail server?

Normally you can install DNP on any existing server, add services, and it should be able to see websites, mail domains, dns, etc, regardless of whether you were using DNP or any other control panel. That's the whole point of it of the import resource functionality.

Adding a brand new domain does not work either.

The new physical server has the exact same configuration as the old server.

I know how the import utility works - I've used it hundreds of times.  My problem is that DNP still wants to administer the email on the old server and not the new one and I don't know why.  When you create a new mail service in DNP, there isn't much to set as far as configuration goes.   You select a provider and an IP address and that's pretty much it.

The only thing that's different is that the new server is 64-bit while the email software installed is itself 32-bit.  In Windows the default install path to a 32-bit program is C:\Program Files(x86) so I wonder if that might have something to do with it.  But, shouldn't the API take care of that?

I any event, I moved DNS and Mail.  DNS works fine, mail does not.

drapsag:

Adding a brand new domain does not work either.

Then you should focus on getting this to work first. If you have added the new mail server in your virtual server correctly, this should work. Check URL, admin username/password, etc. I assume you can add a new domain directly on the mail server?

Which mail server do you use?

I use Merak 8.9.1.

I can add users, etc. from the server directly.

I have removed the service completely from the old server and in DNP (detached all domains and deleted the service from all the plans, both the Virtual Server and the regular Server) and added it to the new server in DNP and created a new Virtual Server with that service and readded it to all my plans.  The URL is correct.  The passwrod is correct.  I know that because the DNS service (also on the new server) works from DNP.

DNP is still trying to access the old server.  I know that because if I turn on the mail service on the old server, DNP picks up the configuration in import resources.  If I turn off the service on the old server, DNP shows nothing in import resources.

After I detached and removed the service in DNP from the old server completely, why does DNP still want to access the old server? 

drapsag:

I use Merak 8.9.1.

I can add users, etc. from the server directly.

I have removed the service completely from the old server and in DNP (detached all domains and deleted the service from all the plans, both the Virtual Server and the regular Server) and added it to the new server in DNP and created a new Virtual Server with that service and readded it to all my plans.  The URL is correct.  The passwrod is correct.  I know that because the DNS service (also on the new server) works from DNP.

DNP is still trying to access the old server.  I know that because if I turn on the mail service on the old server, DNP picks up the configuration in import resources.  If I turn off the service on the old server, DNP shows nothing in import resources.

After I detached and removed the service in DNP from the old server completely, why does DNP still want to access the old server? 

No experience with Merak here. You might want to send an email to support@dotnetpanel.com to let them have a look.

Not really sure what you have done but the easy way would have been to make some small changes to the enterprise server services table, this would have linked Mail and DNS to the new remote server.

Do you have a backup of your database before you changed anything.

No backup but it really doesn't matter.

The only changes I have made are to detach all the mail domains in order to remove the service from the old server and add it to the new server.

So, if I can get DNP to link to the new server, I can import the resources from my new server.

Can that be accomplished with a small change to the enterprise server services table?  What changes should I make?

DNS works fine, and DNP works fine except that mail doesn't so all I need is to link DNP to the new mail server.  Remember, I don't have any mail domains in DNP right now (they have all been detached) but the email server is working fine standalone.  All I want to do is import them into DNP using the import tool but I have to link DNP to the new server somehow and that's the part that doesn't work since DNP still thinks it's linked to the old server.

Ok, making progress.

I removed the mail service completely again from all plans, virtual server, servers, etc.  and reinstalled it into same.

Now DNP is at least attempting to communicate with the proper server, but when it queries the new server for a domain list (when I try to use the import tool), I get the following error in the event log:

[8/18/2008 10:37:36 AM] ERROR: 'Merak Mail Server 8.0.3 - 8.9.x' GetDomain
System.Exception: Cannot create ActiveX component.
   at Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction.CreateObject(String ProgId, String ServerName)
   at DotNetPanel.Providers.Mail.Merak.GetDomains()
   at DotNetPanel.Server.MailServer.GetDomains()

Would this have something to do with the 64-bit OS?

In case anybody is curious, the problem was that I was running ASP in 64-bit and Merak is a 32-bit application.

So, I had to change ASP mode to 32-bit and now it works.