Over the weekend I started migrating some domains over to a new server I got, it is faster and better but the hassle might just be enough for me to say fuckit.
I did do a quick search for the lazy way but quickly concluded the best way for me to migrate a random assortment of websites and tools is to just shut the fuck up and do it.
So to say it is a rather manual process. Firstly it can seem a bit daunting because a lot of the setup that went into them is something I only ever perform once.
So it seems like a simple list, but I think my biggest concern is always the bloody Nginx config.
Since Nginx provides a ton of flexibility to people every tutorial you follow will do it slightly differently and you won't really know if it is optimal or barebones.
Anyway, what makes part of the migration a bit of a pain is what can feel like avoidance-revenge.
Basically, I avoid System Admin when possible. I don't think that is so bad, for example, you get things running and you move along.
I just don't go back and maybe redo it again and again on a test system where I can learn all the in's and outs of why it works.
Fortunately, if I keep at it, ie just do the things I do it will all come around again and I will be forced to learn slow and steady.
With this migration alone I am changing quite a few things from the initial install purely because I now see how all the pieces come together.
From that, I was able to go to another site whose SSL I was never able to get working with auto-renew. Due to the tweaks I made to my new system I got to go in, update permissions correctly, tell Nginx to stop being a little bitch and things just straight up worked when I ran the SSL renew.
I guess that is just the flow of things generally, but it can be easy to forget that unless you have given up then you will learn.
For the things you do more often that are your real focus it is also good to keep in mind to more forcefully push through the bits you don't fully understand and instead of finding an avoidance strategy be more pro-active in implementing things the hard way instead of the quick and dirty way.
Because the simple fact is you are going to go back and for code you could have improved by buckling down a bit you need to rewrite it now anyway and not just that little bit but entire structures.
Fair enough it is not good to pre-optimize when there is no reason for it but it can be good to at least reiterate over something you just made.
