Migrate cPanel accounts to a new server without customers noticing

The order of operations that keeps mail flowing and sites online during a cPanel-to-cPanel move — lower TTLs first, sync twice, cut DNS over in one step, and keep the old box alive as a fallback.

Published 29 Sep 2026Updated 3 Oct 2026 5 min read By srvScripts team

Three days before: prepare both sides

Lower DNS TTLs. Set every A/MX record you will change to 300 seconds now, so that on migration day the world picks up the new IP within minutes instead of a day. If DNS is on the old cPanel server itself, do it in WHM → DNS Functions → Edit DNS Zone; if it is on Cloudflare, it is already fast when proxied.

Match versions on the new server. Migrations fail on the small things: a site on PHP 7.4 landing on a server without 7.4, MariaDB 10.3 dumps into 10.11 (fine) but 10.11 into 10.3 (not fine), an .htaccess that needs mod_ruid2. Compare:

/usr/local/cpanel/cpanel -V; cat /etc/redhat-release; mysql -V
whmapi1 php_get_installed_versions

Install the same PHP versions and extensions on the destination through EasyApache 4 (ea_php74, ea-php74-php-imagick, and so on). Install the same panel add-ons: LiteSpeed, Imunify, JetBackup, CloudLinux with the same LVE limits.

Open the path. On the new server, whitelist the old server’s IP in CSF (csf -a OLD_IP) and confirm root SSH from new to old works, because the Transfer Tool pulls from the old box.

Migration day: first sync

Use WHM → Transfer Tool (Transfer or Restore a cPanel Account) on the new server. Enter the old server’s IP and root password or key, select all accounts, and tick Express Transfer only if you are happy for the old accounts to be suspended immediately; for a no-downtime move leave it off. Also tick Overwrite on nothing yet. Start the transfer.

It runs pkgacct per account on the old server, streams the archive, and restores it. On a 200 GB server expect two to six hours. While it runs, nothing changes for visitors; sites still serve from the old box.

From the command line the same thing per account is:

# old server
/scripts/pkgacct username /home/transfer
# new server
/scripts/restorepkg /home/transfer/cpmove-username.tar.gz

Test on the new server before DNS changes

Add a line to your own hosts file for the two or three biggest sites pointing at the new IP, and click through them: front page, admin login, a form submission, a search. Check SSL: cPanel’s AutoSSL will not issue until DNS points at the new server, so temporarily copy certificates with /scripts/restorepkg (they come across in the archive) — sites should already have them. Send a test mail to and from a migrated mailbox using the new server’s hostname as the mail server.

Second sync and cut-over

Files and databases changed on the old server while the first transfer ran. Run the Transfer Tool again with Overwrite enabled for the accounts, or rsync the home directories and dump the databases again for a faster delta:

rsync -aHAX --delete -e ssh root@OLD:/home/user/ /home/user/
mysqldump --single-transaction dbname | mysql dbname   # via ssh from old

Now change DNS: every A record to the new IP, MX to the new hostname if the hostname changed. With 300-second TTLs the switch is effectively complete within 15 minutes. Watch traffic arrive on the new server with tail -f /etc/apache2/logs/domlogs/domain.com.

Keep mail from being lost

The window where some senders still deliver to the old server is the only real risk. Handle it two ways:

On the old server, in WHM → Edit MX Entry for each domain, set mail routing to Remote Mail Exchanger so anything delivered there is forwarded to the new server rather than stored.
For 48 hours, sync mailboxes old → new once more with rsync -a root@OLD:/home/user/mail/ /home/user/mail/ (without --delete), so any mail that landed on the old box appears on the new one.

Also make sure DKIM records now match the new server’s keys (WHM → Email Deliverability will tell you), or outbound mail from the new server fails DMARC.

After: retire the old server properly

Keep the old server for one week, suspended in WHM (whmapi1 suspendacct) so nothing runs but everything is recoverable. Change the nameservers’ glue records if the old box was a nameserver. Run AutoSSL on the new server, confirm backups (JetBackup or cPanel backups) are configured and have completed once, and only then cancel the old machine. A final whmapi1 listaccts on both sides, compared, is your proof that nothing was left behind.

Diagram: The four stages of a cPanel migration: prepare, copy with the Transfer Tool, test via the hosts file, then cut over.

Migrate cPanel accounts at a glance

Migrate cPanel accounts to a new server without customers no summary card: Lower DNS TTLs. Set every A/MX record you will change to 300 seconds now, so that on migration day the world picks up… — In short: Lower DNS TTLs. Set every A/MX record you will change to 300 seconds now, so that on migration day the world picks up the new IP within minutes instead of a day.

Official documentation: cPanel & WHM documentation, Linux man pages.

Maintenance record

This guide changes servers, data or security settings, so we re-check it against current versions on a fixed schedule. Take a backup or snapshot before you start.

Maintained by: srvScripts editorial team
Last full review: 3 Oct 2026
Next review: 1 Apr 2027
Sources: docs.cpanel.net