OpenVZ: Performing a manual migration using prlctl

As a node administrator, it may be necessary for you to migrate VPS' to another physical node.

This short guide is intended for administrators of OpenVZ 7 VPS Nodes that use prlctl.

Quite simply, run the following command, ideally, in a Linux screen session:

prlctl migrate fc70d533-91d5-4216-9637-e43bdef2c3b0 root@192.168.1.1 --clone --ssh "-p 22"

You would want to replace fc70d533-91d5-4216-9637-e43bdef2c3b0 with the container ID, 192.168.1.1 with the destination node IP, and 22 with the destination node SSH port, if not 22.

A successful migration would look something like this:

[root@sabar ~]# prlctl migrate fc70d533-91d5-4216-9637-e43bdef2c3b0 root@192.168.1.1 --clone --ssh "-p 22"
Permission denied (publickey,gssapi-keyex,gssapi-with-mic,password).
Migrate the CT fc70d533-91d5-4216-9637-e43bdef2c3b0 on 192.168.1.1 ()
root@192.168.1.1's password:
Checking preconditions
Copying static data

The CT has been successfully migrated.
[root@sabar ~]#

You're done!

We included the --clone flag in order to retain the VPS on the source node, which will allow you to double-check that the migration completed successfully. Once you are happy it has done so, you can remove the source node VPS at your leisure, using prlctl delete.