Export and import
Export and import carry the panel’s configuration in one JSON file: every site with all its settings, plus the global list of blocked IPs. Use it to move to a new server, to set up a second server the same way, or to keep a copy before a big change.
Exporting
Open Settings and find the Settings backup card. Press Export settings, and the browser downloads the JSON file.
The file contains the following.
- every site: domain, aliases, name, handler, PHP and Node.js settings (including the Node.js environment variables), SSL switches, owner,
.htaccessswitch and all protection settings; - the global blocklist of IP addresses and networks.
Because the file can hold secrets such as environment variable values and password hashes, store it as carefully as a password file.
What is not exported
- Site files. The export holds configuration only, so copy the files from
/var/wwwseparately (for example withrsyncover SSH). - Certificates and keys. The new server issues its own once DNS points there.
- The pass secret of required URL parameters, which stays on the server that created it. On another server, a visitor who came with your link gets a new pass the next time they open the link.
- Panel settings from the Settings page and
.env(panel login, tokens, keys). - A site’s Node.js port. The new server assigns its own.
- Databases. WardPane 2.0 does not manage them, so move them yourself, for example with
mysqldump.
Passwords
The password of a site’s HTTP Basic protection is exported only as a hash. A file from an older version may still contain a plain-text password; it is accepted, and the password is hashed during import.
Importing
- On the target server, open Settings > Settings backup and press Import settings….
- Choose the JSON file.
- Choose the mode and press Import.
| Mode | What it does |
|---|---|
| Merge | Adds new sites, updates sites with the same domain, keeps the rest. |
| Replace | The same, but sites missing from the file are deleted. Their files in /var/www are kept. |
After that, copy the site files and point DNS to the new server. Certificates are issued without further steps.
Checks on import
The panel checks the whole file first and then applies it in one step, so an import cannot stop halfway and leave the panel half-imported.
- A site with an error is skipped, and the result lists it with the reason. In replace mode such a site is not deleted either, so a broken entry never removes a working site.
- In replace mode, a file with no usable site at all is rejected as a whole, because importing it would delete every site.
- Allow list entries written by older versions are repaired where possible. Sloppy but readable entries such as
198.51.100.0/ 24or1.2.3.4/are corrected, and unreadable ones are dropped. Both cases appear in the import result and in the panel log. - Geo groups the panel does not know are dropped, and writable PHP folders that would be unsafe are removed, each with a note.
Under the buttons the panel then shows how many sites were added and updated, with every note.