A few questions

[Lightfoot]

How do you handle upgrades from VPS to dedicated servers, will my entire server environment stay intact (server scripts, AMP customizations)?

I've been using cPanel for a couple of years and like it, but I would like to give PLESK a try to see how things go with it for awhile. Would it be easy for me to switch back to cPanel in the future (in terms of downtime)?

This is more of a PLESK question. I know that cPanel has its own monitoring service which "attempts" to restart services if they appear down, does PLESK do something like this as well?

If not, what services are normally monitored on the Silver Management plan and can I request additional services to be monitored on that plan?

[Kevin]

How do you handle upgrades from VPS to dedicated servers, will my entire server environment stay intact (server scripts, AMP customizations)?

We have only done this once before, and it's not a smooth upgrade. Our test occurred with Debian, but I suspect CentOS would have been easier because of our significant experience with it. The VPS is missing several core components from the server's base layout and requires significant adjustment to migrate to a Dedicated server. We generally do a clean OS install on a new box and allow/help the customer to migrate data as needed. If you have a control panel, that part is generally very easy. Software customizations would have to be redone.

I've been using cPanel for a couple of years and like it, but I would like to give PLESK a try to see how things go with it for awhile. Would it be easy for me to switch back to cPanel in the future (in terms of downtime)?

We strongly recommend checking out InterWorx, but you can certainly try out Plesk. Switching requires a full OS reinstallation, so the process would require you to back up your data and then recreate everything. In the case of a VPS, we can offer to create a new one and allow you to do a live migration, but sometimes this isn't possible to do on a dedicated due to lack of spare servers.

This is more of a PLESK question. I know that cPanel has its own monitoring service which "attempts" to restart services if they appear down, does PLESK do something like this as well?

I believe Plesk provides a module that can be installed that performs this task.

If not, what services are normally monitored on the Silver Management plan and can I request additional services to be monitored on that plan?

No services are monitored by default on Silver Management or Gold Management. You can request 1 monitor to be set up to notify you of an outage on any service (or ping monitor for the whole server) with Silver. Gold Management provides unlimited monitors on request with proactive response included as requested. We take the stance that it is better not to make assumptions about what services the customer wants running and what services to "fix" proactively, in case that might be damaging to their configuration.

[Justec]

I would also recommend checking out InterWorx. I have never really like Cpanel, can't say much about the others b/c i haven't had much personal experience with them.

This is more of a PLESK question. I know that cPanel has its own monitoring service which "attempts" to restart services if they appear down, does PLESK do something like this as well?

InterWorx does this.

[Lightfoot]

Thanks for the replies.

InterWorx... I like it! I was actually able to demo a control panel and not be overwhelmed by features. I like the template system already over cPanel, and they seem to have a lot of peaceful customers. I would consider using InterWorx.

[Jason Pokanski]

One way I have migrated a box out of vmware was to use netcat over the network using this link: (Can't post links so google for "copy drive over network linux" first hit)

On the dedicated box, Use Ultimatebootcd or knoppix to boot the drive.

Follow the "On Slave Machine" instructions

On the VPS, follow the "On Master Machine" instructions.

Since I remember the kernels running in VPS machines are funky..another method to try is to install a base os of the VPS machine on the server. (Establish /boot and / and swap partitions)

then reboot the server using ubcd or knoppix and netcat partitions over (like dev/sda1 instead of dev/sda, etc) from the VPS.

It's a bitch, but doable.

-Jason Potkanski

[Lightfoot]

Well what I have seen some providers do is setup a dedicated server w/Virtuozzo so your site(s) can expand and collapse without much hassle if you happen to need the resources of a dedicated server or not.

[Lightfoot]

I decided to go with a dedicated/interworx/gold management box. Thanks.