Quickly switching files to DH

I'm interested in signing up with DH, but I have a lot of websites and a lot of data to be moved over. Thinking of downloading and reuploading all those files (and changing file permissions on scripts) from my multiple domains feels so daunting. Especially since some of them use webmail exclusively (no POP) and I want to make sure my users have a seamless mail transition to the new server. Oh, and then there's some databases, too.

I asked DH about possibilities, and they suggested using SSH to directly transfer files. I Googled this and didn't come up with any information that I found useful. Maybe I was using poor phrasing or it's a really uncommon task? If anyone knows of the fastest, most seamless way to get all my data migrated over from one server to another, please let me know. Links to online tutorials or instructions would be so very appreciated. Thanks!

SSH is indeed the fastest way of accomplishing the task of transferring from server to server. A particular command that will help you is Wget. The DreamHost Wiki has plenty of articles to help you understand and facilitate the moving process. For example, there is an article on migrating your MySQL databases. There are always DreamHost customers on hand in the forum to help you if you get stuck.

There is also a command line SFTP (and FTP) programs installed on the server that you can access via SSH. Once you're logged into your DH sever the command would look like this:
sftp user@domain.com
You'll be prompted for you password. Then type help to see what commands to use.



--Matttail
art.googlies.net - personal website

Consider using rsync, if available on the other system.

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Well, I'm making the switch and now just need to figure out the syntax. I've read the Wiki articles on rsync and migrating databases. Great places to start, but not enough examples for a newbie like me. I've tried some commands (based on how I'm understanding the articles), but it's not working. I'm leery about asking my current host any questions, since I'm leaving their services and I don't want to tell them that until all my files are securely at DH.

So I logged into my current host via SSH2 (with Putty) and tried
rsync -e ssh -av public_html/testfolder : me@olds.dreamhost.com
(trying to get domain.com/testfolder moved over)

and got the following:
building file list ... rsync: link_stat "/home/me/:" failed: No such file or directory (2)
done
created directory me@olds.dreamhost.com

then it listed all of the files in /testfolder and said
sent 1022000 bytes received 860 bytes 2045720.00 bytes/sec
total size is 1019059 speedup is 1.00
rsync error: some files could not be transferred (code 23) at main.c(702)

I checked and none of the files were transfered over. My account at DH is still totally empty.

Note: "me" denotes my username for both hosts, which is the same.


Anybody know what I did wrong? What command I should use instead? I want to get my whole domain switched over and then repeat the process with all my other domains.

Wget sounds like a fantastic timesaver, but copying the syntax from the DH Wiki isn't working for me:


To create a mirror image of a folder on a different server (with the same structure as the original has) you could simply ftp into the server and transfer it:

wget -r ftp://username:password@yourdomain.com/folder/*


Using just 1 folder, I tested this command when logged into my DH account via SSH2 but received this message:


ftp://me:*password*@domain.com/folder/*
=> `domain.com/folder/.listing'
Resolving domain.com... 70.87.XXX.XX
Connecting to domain.com[70.87.XXX.XX]:21... connected.
Logging in as me ... Logged in!
==> SYST ... done. ==> PWD ... done.
==> TYPE I ... done. ==> CWD /folder ...
No such directory `folder'.

unlink: No such file or directory



So it appears that I can log in correctly, but then it says the directory doesn't exist, which it definitely does. What else could that error indicate??

Sorry for the delay in responding (to your PM) I was out of town. Anyways, it looks like you probably got the CaSE or spelling wrong on the folder you're trying to copy over. I'd suggest you check on the other server and SEe IF you missED a CAPital.



--Matttail
art.googlies.net - personal website