Migrating Plesk Sitebuilder from Standalone Server to Clustered Environment

The information in this chapter applies to Plesk Sitebuilder starting from version 4.x. To migrate a standalone Plesk Sitebuilder 3.x installation to a clustered environment, you first need to upgrade your Plesk Sitebuilder to version 4.x.

Considerations

Before migrating a standalone Plesk Sitebuilder installation to a clustered environment:

• Consider prospective network topology and plan physical tiers deployment basing on the information given in the chapter Installing Plesk Sitebuilder in Clustered Environment:
  • Where the Plesk Sitebuilder database resides now and where it should be after cluster deployment
  • What machine will carry out storage tier responsibilities (keep system repository and sites storage)
  • Which machines to be part of the web farm
• Consider to set up a failover cluster for the database and/or storage server
• Back up the current Plesk Sitebuilder database
• Back up all Plesk Sitebuilder configuration files (.config)
• Back up the current preview sites (located in the <path_to_Sitebuilder>\Sites folder)
• Back up the Plesk Sitebuilder server certificate used in the current installation (it is used to secure communication between Plesk Sitebuilder server and published sites).

  There are two ways to back up Plesk Sitebuilder server certificate:

  • Using certificates management console:
    1. Start the MMC environment (Start > Command Prompt > mmc.exe).
    2. On the File menu, select Add/Remove Snap-in and click Add.
    3. From the appeared list, select 'Certificates' and click Add and click Close.
    4. Select Computer account option and click Next.
    5. Select Local computer option and click Finish. Click OK on the Add/Remove Snap-in dialog box.
    6. Go to Console Root > Certificates > Personal > Certificates, right-click on 'Plesk Sitebuilder' certificate and select Export.
    7. Follow the instructions provided in the Certificate Export Wizard.

       Important: Be sure to include the private key into the exported certificate.

  • Using the certexchange.exe utility located in the <path_to_Sitebuilder>\Utils folder.

    For example:

certexchange -x -pfx -n Sitebuilder -file C:\backup\certificate\sitebuilder.pfx

where C:\backup\certificate is the path to the destination folder for the exported certificate file named sitebuilder.pfx.

• Backup the Plesk Sitebuilder public key using the certexchange.exe utility located in <path_to_Sitebuilder>\Utils folder.

  For example:

certexchange -x -pxml -n Sitebuilder -file C:\backup\certificate\PublicKey.xml

where C:\backup\certificate is the path to the destination folder for the backed up certificate file named PublicKey.xml.

Once the above considerations are taken into account, you can start the migration procedure.

To migrate Plesk Sitebuilder from a standalone server to a clustered environment:

1. Remove Plesk Sitebuilder, together with additionally installed template packs and language packs (if any).
2. Move the Plesk Sitebuilder database to the destination Data tier SQL server.
3. Run Storage tier installation and point it to the Plesk Sitebuilder database prepared at step 2.
4. Move Plesk Sitebuilder preview sites files to the destination location at the Storage tier server.

   In order to preserve the correct NTFS permissions set by the installer, copy the subfolders nested in the <path_to_Sitebuilder>\Sites folder (not the entire Sites folder).

5. Replace the Plesk Sitebuilder public key (publickey.xml) stored in the <path_to_Sitebuilder>\Repository\Common folder with the one you have kept from the previous Plesk Sitebuilder installation.
6. Replace the new Plesk Sitebuilder certificate file stored in the <path_to_Sitebuilder>\Install folder with the one you have kept from the previous Plesk Sitebuilder installation.
7. For each Application tier machine, ensure that there are no existing Plesk Sitebuilder certificates in the local certificate store using the Certificates MMC snap-in.
8. Install Application tiers from the Plesk Sitebuilder share to the Storage tier server.
9. Install template packs and language packs, if necessary.

   Make sure that the installed templates appear in Plesk Sitebuilder plans.