Migrating from CWP (Control Web Panel) to KoaPanel: accounts, mail and original passwords

24 October 2026 · read 3 min · KoaPanel

CWP (Control Web Panel, formerly CentOS Web Panel) is free and popular with small hosting providers. Sooner or later, though, you want to move on: for the interface, for security updates, for a recent AlmaLinux or Ubuntu, or because you want a panel built for people who resell hosting.

The problem is always the same: CWP has no per-account backup tool another panel can rely on, and rebuilding sites, databases and mailboxes by hand takes days. Since KoaPanel 0.68 the migration from CWP is built in: the panel connects to the old server over SSH and brings whole accounts across.

What arrives on the new server

For each chosen CWP account, KoaPanel brings:

• the sites: main domain, addon domains and subdomains, each with its own folder;
• the databases user_*, with their users. Optionally the user and password stay those of the old server, so the sites' configuration does not change;
• the mailboxes, with every message and the original password: mail users do not have to change anything in their mail app;
• the forwarders;
• the cron jobs, paused until you review them;
• the PHP version of each domain. If it is not installed here, the site gets the closest one and the summary tells you.

Administrators can have KoaPanel create a panel account for each CWP account, with the same username, the same contact e-mail and the chosen package.

How it works

1. In KoaPanel open Migration › From a server over SSH and enter the CWP server's address, the root user and the password or an SSH key. The credentials are used for this migration only and are never stored.
2. Check the server fingerprint and press Analyze server. KoaPanel recognizes CWP and shows you the accounts with domains, space and databases.
3. Choose the accounts to bring. For each one the panel builds a full package on the old server, downloads it, deletes it from the old server and imports it.
4. In the domain map decide whether to keep the same names or change them, and the PHP version of each site.
5. When the import ends you get the summary: sites, databases, mailboxes (with the password kept), forwarders and cron jobs.

The old server is not changed: KoaPanel only reads it, and at the end it deletes the temporary package it made.

Changing the DNS without losing anything

Between the migration and the DNS change, the sites keep working on the old server. Before changing the DNS, use the final sync from the migration summary: it brings the new or changed files and the updated databases.

The final sync does not bring the mail. To avoid losing messages, change the MX record right after the final sync and keep the old server running for a few days.

What you need

• SSH access as root to the CWP server.
• The mail service enabled on KoaPanel, if you want to bring the mailboxes. You can also enable it during the migration.
• Enough space: KoaPanel checks before starting and tells you how much is needed.

All the details are in the manual, on the Migration over SSH page.