iPage: VPS and Dedicated Hosting - CentOS 7 upgrade

The cPanel team will still support CentOS 6 with cPanel 86 until March 31, 2021. Note that VPS and Dedicated customers with servers running the CentOS 6 operating system will not upgrade cPanel past version 86.

The following notice is still showing up on VPS and Dedicated customer's WHM panel that runs on CentOS 6:

The server must first be re-imaged to a CentOS 7 server to qualify for the upgrade past cPanel 86. This is due to VPS and Dedicated servers running cPanel not having the ability to upgrade from one major version of CentOS to the next.

The re-image process requires the current server to be deleted entirely and replaced with a new and clean CentOS 7 server. This includes the deletion of the entire server content and all configuration changes since purchasing the VPS or Dedicated account. The re-image request can take 24 hours to be addressed. It usually takes approximately 3 - 5 hours to be completed once the process has been started.

Create and Download cPanel Backups

Unless disabled or altered, cPanel generated backups are automatically created daily and weekly, which allows you to download them from your server using SFTP. Please refer to our help article VPS and Dedicated Hosting - How to manage backups with SFTP.

Restore cPanel Backups

After the re-image has been completed, you will be notified by an escalated support representative to inform you that you can begin the upload of your downloaded cPanel backup. You can also use SFTP to upload the backup to your server's/home directory.

After completing the re-image process, you will receive a notification through email from our escalated support team informing you that you can begin to upload your downloaded cPanel backup.

There is a tool in your WHM panel that will help restore the full cPanel backup for you. To begin, you will need to log in to your WHM panel.

Once logged into your WHM panel, you can use the search bar to get to the restore tool:

From the restore tool utility page, take the following steps:

1. Uncheck the Restricted Restore box.
2. Choose the Restore with Username.
    
   Note: Only backups uploaded to /home will display.
3. Select Replace all instances of the original server's IP address.
4. Tick the option to Overwrite the existing user and click the Restore button.

Once the restoration has is complete, your sites and email accounts should start functioning once again. Don't hesitate to contact support if you require any further assistance. If you encounter any issues during the restore process, feel free to request the support team to restore your primary cPanel account for you. Please understand that we cannot guarantee the restoration's success, as it relies on the backup uploaded to the server.

FAQ

Is there a paid service that we offer to migrate my account to a CentOS 7 server or make the backup and perform the restore after a re-image?

We currently do not offer a migration service to a CentOS 7 server. The complications of migrating to a new server with a new cPanel username, domain, and IP address make it far easier to proceed with the re-image and restore. We can assist with the restoration of your primary cPanel account. However, we do not create, download, or guarantee the backup you upload to the server once the re-image has been completed.

What features does cPanel 88 have that cPanel 86 does not have?

Listed are the cPanel 88 features:

• Webmail: cPanel 88 ships with RoundCube 1.4, which includes the new responsive Elastic theme.
• Anti-Virus: ImunifyAV, a leading malware scanning solution, is available for free in cPanel 88.
• MySQL: Support has been added for MySQL 8 in cPanel 88, with many performance enhancements.

You can get the latest cPanel release information here.