Hi all We have a deployment of ISPConfig on one server, business (thankfully) grows and now we need to spread load on more servers and in between upgrade to a newer Debian release (running Stretch with NginX and multiple PHP 5.6 to 7.4. - What would be the best procedure? - Is is good idea to take the opportunity to upgrade Debian to Buster or even Bullseye? - can we spread web load on many servers but providing only one public IP? - Can we move a client from one web node to another without breaking things? Thanks!
- What would be the best procedure? First, you have to choose, as its procedure depends on your choice. I'd say you have from expanding from current server (as master) to other new server, or plan new multiserver, build them and migrate the current one to new master etc. - Is is good idea to take the opportunity to upgrade Debian to Buster or even Bullseye? This is also a choice as good or bad idea depends on you, what you have and what you really want to achieve. - can we spread web load on many servers but providing only one public IP? Sure. There are many tutorials and discussions on how to achieve that. - Can we move a client from one web node to another without breaking things? That is technically possible, with some efforts of course.
I think the idea would be to expand from current server, say moving DNS to externals primary/slave, DB and may be Mail Server to different servers, so keeping nginx and control panel on existing one. Would that make sense? Do you have a link? I did not found any tutorial on how to upgrade the system's version (Debian in this case) of the server or, if the general idea is to make a clean install of a new node and migrate pages and clients, a tutorial on how to make that migration. Do you have a link? I did not found them, at least any that starts from a working single server, links would be welcome. And the considerations to keep in mind will be... ? Thanks!!
That seems like a migration choice where you build multiple new server each with its own purpose and yes, that makes sense to me. However, you'd better buy the manual, subscribe to howtoforge and learn searching yourself. Subscribing will help you get better and faster response from the team while the search is kinda easy once you get use to it like googling with "site:howtoforge.com your-relevant-keywords". There may not be only one straigth answer but several of them that you need to understand, so, you'll want or learn to do your own search and research. Regarding the transfer, if I am correct, you actually mean to transfer the client's website files and database to another node as the client in ISPConfig is always maintain in master server, so check the manual for changing its server or its ip address after a complete files and database copy. Please check the relevant ISPConfig tools that you may need to achieve the above like: https://www.ispconfig.org/add-ons/ispconfig-migration-tool/
Like @ahrasis wrote, I also suggest installing a new ISPConfig multiserver setup with the Debian version you desire, and the multiple PHP versions. You can then us ISPConfig Migration Toolkit to copy the data form old setup to new. I'm not sure if the latest Migration Tool allows defining into which web server each website is migrated, but you can migrate all to one server and then move some websites to the other web server.
Its always good for production servers to be on latest stable Debian. https://www.debian.org/releases/ If you are on Stretch, its security updates is soon over (3 years after release, next week that is, after that you need to use LTS with limited security updates). Its easy to upgrade to new version and supported, just run the latest tutorial after. If you have virtual environment, copy VM and do a testupgrade. And take notes on what you do, so its easier next year when Bullseye is released. TESTING (bullseye) do not receive security updates in a timely manner, so DONT run it in production. From debian.org: https://www.debian.org/News/2019/20190706.en.html Upgrading Debian Upgrades to Debian 10 from the previous release, Debian 9 (code name stretch) are automatically handled by the apt package management tool for most configurations. As always, Debian systems may be upgraded painlessly, in place, without any forced downtime, but it is strongly recommended to read the release notes as well as the installation guide for possible issues, and for detailed instructions on installing and upgrading. The release notes will be further improved and translated to additional languages in the weeks after the release.
