How to move a DirectAdmin server to a new server, site by site
Read the old DirectAdmin server over SSH, copy each site while it keeps serving, and switch DNS only after you have checked the copy.
What has been moved this way
KLYRN read a production DirectAdmin 1.697 server over SSH and moved 40 accounts, 48 domains, 25 databases and 48 mailboxes. Each was verified, and the source was only read.
The backup file route is newer. It has been tested against archives built from DirectAdmin's documented layout, and no archive from a real server has been through it yet.
Before you start
You need an SSH login to the old server. Root, or sudo without a password, moves every account. Any other login moves only what it owns.
Two files on the source must be readable. custombuild/options.conf tells KLYRN each domain's PHP version, and conf/my.cnf lists the databases.
Read the server, then approve a plan
With a root login, Migrate in the panel reads the whole server in one pass. You choose everything, some accounts or some sites. The plan names what would collide before anything is written.
Each domain keeps its own PHP version. An account with 8.2 on one domain and 5.6 on another keeps both. A version this server does not offer is flagged first.
Copy while the old server keeps serving
Each site is copied once while visitors still reach the old server. A final sync then sends only what changed. Over SSH, the time that sync takes is the downtime.
Mail is a separate step. With mail hosting on, it copies mailboxes with their passwords, forwarders and the catch-all. Autoresponders are named in the log and not copied.
Switch DNS last
Open the copy and check it before you touch DNS. Decide about mail first, and point MX here only after the mailboxes have moved and you have checked them.
Keep the old server for a week. KLYRN never deletes or suspends anything on it, so going back means pointing DNS at it again.
What stays behind
FTP accounts, DNS zones, reseller packages and web server customisations are read and listed, but not moved. KLYRN issues its own certificates.
The DirectAdmin guide has every refusal and check. The migration page shows the flow.