HF PanelDocsv1.0.0

Add a second server and move accounts

Install HF Panel on a new server, join it to your main panel with a join code, place new accounts on it and move existing accounts across.

When one server gets full, you can add another and keep running everything from one panel. Customers keep signing in at the same address; their websites, email, databases and files live on the server you choose. This tutorial joins a second server and moves an account to it.

You need:

  • your main HF Panel server, with an administrator login
  • a fresh VPS running Ubuntu 22.04, 24.04 or 26.04 LTS, or Debian 12 or 13
  • a name for it, for example s2.yourdomain.com

1. Point a name at the new server

At your DNS provider, add an A record for s2.yourdomain.com pointing at the new server's IP address. Add mail. and webmail. names for it too if you like.

2. Install HF Panel on it

Log in to the new server as root and run the installer with that name. DNS stays on the main server, so add --no-dns. See Install and Customise the installation.

Important: run the same HF Panel version as the main server, or newer. Moves to a server with an older version are refused.

3. Make a join code

On the new server, run the command shown on the Add a server card of the main panel's Servers screen: hf-panel node-enable followed by the main server's IP address. It prints a Join code.

4. Join it to the main panel

  1. On the main server, open Server Admin › Accounts › Servers.
  2. In Add a server, type a Name such as London 2 and paste the Join code.
  3. Click Add server.

The server appears in the list with Online, its IP and its number of accounts.

5. Place new accounts on it

New accounts go to Automatic — fewest accounts by default, so the new server fills up first. To choose by hand, pick the Server when you create an account under Accounts.

To keep a server out of automatic placement, click Stop placing new accounts here on its row.

6. Move an existing account

  1. Open Server Admin › Accounts › Accounts and click Manage on the account.
  2. Under Move to server, choose the new server and click Move.

The progress page shows each stage: packing, copying, setting up, switching DNS and removing the old copy. If a move fails, the account stays where it was. The customer gets an email when it is done.

7. Check after the move

Read Check these: on the finished move. It lists anything to look at, for example a website that now uses another PHP version, a Node.js app on a new port, or a database user whose password must be set again. Websites switch over as DNS updates, usually within an hour, and new free SSL certificates are issued on the new server.

Server Admin › Accounts › Move accounts lists the last 20 moves.

8. Back up both servers

Each account's backups are made on the server it lives on. Off-server copies set under System › Backups apply to every server, each in its own folder.

Tip: you can also make the new server a secondary nameserver: see Set up your own nameservers.