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Migrating to a different server

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If the need arises Nextcloud can be migrated to a different server. A typical +use case would be a hardware change or a migration from the virtual Appliance +to a physical server. All migrations have to be performed with Nextcloud +offline and no accesses being made. Online migration is supported by +Nextcloud only when implementing industry standard clustering and HA solutions +before Nextcloud is installed for the first time.

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To start let us be specific about the use case. A configured Nextcloud +instance runs reliably on one machine. For some reason (e.g. more powerful +machine is available but a move to a clustered environment not yet needed) +the instance needs to be moved to a new machine. Depending on the size of +the Nextcloud instance the migration might take several hours. As a +prerequisite it is assumed that the end users reach the Nextcloud instance +via a virtual hostname (a CNAME record in DNS) which can be pointed at +the new location. It is also assumed that the authentication method +(e.g. LDAP) remains the same after the migration.

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Warning

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At NO TIME any changes to the ORIGINAL system are required +EXCEPT putting Nextcloud into maintenance mode.

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This ensures, should anything unforseen happen you can go +back to your existing installation and provide your users +with a running Nextcloud while debugging the problem.

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  1. Set up the new machine with the desired OS, install and configure the +Web server as well as PHP for Nextcloud (e.g. permissions or file upload size +limits) and make sure the PHP version matches Nextcloud supported +configuration and all relevant PHP extensions are installed. Also set up +the database and make sure it is a Nextcloud supported configuration. If +your original machine was installed recently just copying that base +configuration is a safe best practice.

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  2. On the original machine then stop Nextcloud. First activate the +maintenance mode. After waiting for 6-7 minutes for all sync clients to +register the server is in maintenance mode stop the application and/or +Web server that serves Nextcloud.

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  3. Create a dump from the database and copy it to the new machine. There +import it in the database (See Backup and Restoring backup).

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  4. Copy all files from your Nextcloud instance, the Nextcloud program files, the +data files, the log files and the configuration files, to the new +machine (See Backup and Restoring backup). The data files should keep +their original timestamp (can be done by using rsync with -t option) +otherwise the clients will re-download all the files after the migration. +Depending on the original installation method and the OS the files are +located in different locations. On the new system make sure to pick the +appropriate locations. If you change any paths, make sure to adapt the paths +in the Nextcloud config.php file. Note: This step might take several hours, +depending on your installation.

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  5. Check the config.php file of the ORIGINAL system to see if it has +the data-fingerprint set to a non-empty value. If this is the case, make +sure to also run the maintenance:data-fingerprint command on the NEW +system, similarly to how it is required when performing a backup restoration (See Restoring backup for details).

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  6. While still having Nextcloud in maintenance mode (confirm!) and BEFORE +changing the CNAME record in the DNS start up the database, Web server / +application server on the new machine and point your web browser to the +migrated Nextcloud instance. Confirm that you see the maintenance mode +notice, that a logfile entry is written by both the Web server and +Nextcloud and that no error messages occur. Then take Nextcloud out of +maintenance mode and repeat. Log in as admin and confirm normal function +of Nextcloud.

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  7. Change the CNAME entry in the DNS to point your users to the new +location.

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