[Tutorial] Move Over a TeamSpeak 3 Server to a new Host or New Server with <10s Downtime [Linux]

[shockli]

Recently I have came across a few problems when I was moving over hosts for the past few months. We would take advantage of "new member" discounts with many hosting companies, but sometimes the extra money didn't feel worth the downtime.

So after months of experience in moving over a TeamSpeak 3 server, we have found an efficient way of doing this.
We use Archlinux x86_64 on our server, but all Linux distro's should work.

Pre-Setup:
You can skip this if you are using a cracked server license.
Split your user slots in half. You will need to do this to prevent problems with the accounting server.

Step 1:

• Make backups. Not only of your database, but everything.
  
• Make sure your backups are on a cloud server or other server.
  
• Always at least two backups, because there is a chance you will mess up, and (like me), overwrite your backup and maybe (like me) mess up again.

Step 2:
Archive your server to make transfers smoother:

tar -zcvf ts3-server-backup-2016-02-04.tar.gz /home/ts/ts3server

Verify your archive (Step 1):

md5sum ts3-server-backup-2016-02-04.tar.gz

- Remember this!
Copy your files over to your new server:

scp -r ./ts3-server-backup-2016-02-04.tar.gz [email protected]:/home/ts/

Verify your archive (Step 2):

md5sum ts3-server-backup-2016-02-04.tar.gz

If it matches the previous key then you are ready to go.
Extract your archive:

tar -xvzf ts3-server-backup-2016-02-04.tar.gz

Step 3:

Now I know TS3DNS isn't very much liked but this is the one time you will need it.
Create a rule for tsdns:

*=mynewserver:$PORT

Start TSDNS

Step 4:

• Start your TeamSpeak server on your new host
• Make sure you can connect
• If you are using a crack wait for about 2 hours

Step 5:
Login via serverquery on your old server, and shutdown the server.
Everyone will now reconnect to their channel they were in on the new server.

Step 6:

• Inform users of new IP
• Update your DNS (If you have one)
• Put a modalquit message on your old server with a new link to your server (for if all else fails!)
• Take the slots down to about 5 on your old server

After a week or so you can take down the old server, and no one would even have noticed!

 

[Qraktzyl]

When copying on another server, I always prefer to go with a brand new teamspeak3 server installation and simply bringing my database, files folder and whitelist.txt/blacklist.txt files. Is there a reason you recommend bringing everything?

You can also not use TSDNS if you are using cloudflare by example, the propagation is very fast. I personally dislike TSDNS and praise SRV records.

I would add to step 4 to start the server on the new host, make sure you can connect and if you are using the crack you should wait 2 hours?

 

[shockli]

When copying on another server, I always prefer to go with a brand new teamspeak3 server installation and simply bringing my database, files folder and whitelist.txt/blacklist.txt files. Is there a reason you recommend bringing everything?

You can also not use TSDNS if you are using cloudflare by example, the propagation is very fast. I personally dislike TSDNS and praise SRV records.

I would add to step 4 to start the server on the new host, make sure you can connect and if you are using the crack you should wait 2 hours?

Hello, thanks for that. I added those to step 4.

I do not use cloudflare, but I added the TSDNS part to make sure users can immediatly reconnect (note the <10s). It's probably not needed for a whole week. To bring over the files for everything I don't actually have a reason. I guess its from my preference (and being lazy).