FAQ on migration to new web server cloud running CentOS 8

Accounts, home directory, database, crontab (but commented) are cloned from the original web server to this new server. The current web server cloud will continue running till summer 2021. Virtualhost with temporary domain name is set up on the new server. The temporarily domain name will be nOriginalDomainName. For example, if the original domain name is “itstest123.hku.hk”, the temporarily domain name will be “nitstest123.hku.hk”. 

You can use the original account name and password to login (SSH/SFTP) the new server by hostname webcloud01.hku.hk. And you can simply type the temporatily domain name “nOriginalDomainName” in the browser to browse.

But for much serious checking, please consider using “local host file method”: add the following line to your PC , during testing

147.8.204.239 OriginalDomainName.hku.hk

The department website can be switched to run in production mode after the department webmaster confirms that the website in new web server cloud is in good order and has passed the vulnerability scanning tests (please submit CF163).

ITS will update the DNS record to point to new server. If your department is using NS5.hku.hk or is managing a departmental DNS server to manage department domain, please configure the domain name by updating the DNS record to “CNAME webcloud01.hku.hk”, For example: abc.its.hku.hk

               abc         1800      IN           CNAME                webcloud01.hku.hk.

Please note there is a “.” after “webcloud.hku.hk.“

If the domain name is a root domain of NS5, please configure the domain name by adding below 1 “A” record. For example: its.hku.hk

               (empty) 1800 IN A 147.8.204.239

It depends case by case. Those websites should be alright if you are running static pages. However, there is a major upgrade for PHP from version 5 to 7, there are some backwards incompatible changes. Please check PHP official document:

• https://www.php.net/manual/en/migration70.php
• https://www.php.net/manual/en/migration71.php
• https://www.php.net/manual/en/migration72.php
• https://www.php.net/manual/en/migration73.php
• https://www.php.net/manual/en/migration74.php

ref: https://dzone.com/articles/migrating-a-php-5-app-to-php

If it is too hard to migrate the PHP code from 5 to 7, please consider to create a new site using Wix (Option 1) or WordPress CMS (Option 2)

You should check the error log of Apache. Error logs are usually located in /var/log/httpd/GROUP/ as DOMAIN-error_log and DOMAIN-ssl_error_log

GROUP is your Linux group name you can obtain via command “groups”.

 Example:

[exam@webcloud01 ~]$ groups

ase

Apache log for “exam” is under /var/log/httpd/ase/

Accounts and virtualhosts from the same original CentOS 6 webcloud server, i.e. the same department/unit, are in the same group, are able to view the log of the same group but not others.

Custom modifications and plugins. Even if your main software is upgraded to a compatible version, plugins and custom modifications may not be PHP7.4 compatible. To resolve, try to disable all installed plugins and modifications and then re-enable one by one until you find the plugin that causes the error. Help may also be in the error_log on your server.

There may be special rewrite rules, redirection rules, or hardcoded PHP code/database record using the original domain name. Using temporarily domain name “nOriginalDomainName” may not work or may not make your test completely. Please consider to use “local host files method” to test.

Yes, but please note that the original would be kept for 3 days. Please contact ITS as soon as possible.

ITS will either force migrate the service or suspend the server.