WHMCS - Migration from HEXONET to CentralNic Reseller

This article provides a brief overview of the necessary steps to replace your Domain Registrar from "HEXONET" (HX) to "CentralNic Reseller" (CNR) in WHMCS.

Note: This guide addresses two HEXONET Modules:

• The one included with WHMCS (registrar identifier: hexonet) and
• the one available in our Software Bundle (registrar identifier: ispapi).

When referring to "HEXONET" as the Domain Provider, please consider "ISPAPI" as well.

Software Installation

1. Install our Software Bundle from WHMCS Marketplace. You can find the installation and upgrade instructions here.
2. Review our guides, "WHMCS - Module Installation & Upgrade" and "WHMCS - Registrar Module", for detailed instructions. If you plan to use additional addons, consult the relevant articles as well.

Once installed, activated, and configured, our CNR Registrar Module for WHMCS should look like this:

Lookup Provider and TLDs

1. Navigate to "System Settings" > "Domain Pricing"
2. Change the "Auto Registration" settings to switch all TLDs from HEXONET to CentralNic Reseller. This may take some time, but you can use the following SQL Statement to assist with the process:

   UPDATE tbldomainpricing SET autoreg = 'cnic'
    WHERE autoreg = 'hexonet' OR autoreg = 'ispapi';

3. Manually update the Lookup Provider to the CentralNic Reseller Module (ensure it displays a version number in label/logo).

Your Domains

1. Go to the WHMCS Admin Area, navigate to "Clients" > "Domain Registrations"
2. For each migrated domain update the registrar from HEXONET (or ISPAPI) to CentralNic Reseller (version number inluded in the label). If all your domains are already technically migrated, use this SQL Statement:

   UPDATE tbldomains SET registrar = 'cnic'
    WHERE registrar = 'hexonet' OR registrar = 'ispapi';

WHMCS' built-in CentralNic Reseller Module

• Note that the built-in module is less stable and not compatible with all additional addons we offer.  If you started with this module, follow the steps above to migrate to our version. Use these SQL statements:

  UPDATE tbldomainpricing SET autoreg = 'cnic'
   WHERE autoreg = 'centralnic';
  
  UPDATE tbldomains SET registrar = 'cnic'
   WHERE registrar = 'centralnic';

Synchronizing Activated TLDs from a Hexonet Account to a CentralNic Reseller Account

Additional Steps

• Ensure that your account's renewal mode for CentralNic Reseller is configured to "Auto Expire". Find this documented here under section "Domain Renewal Mode"
• Check the Registrar Module Settings of our CentralNic Reseller Registrar Module and activate/configure them to fit your needs.
• If you have custom cron scripts, hook subscriptions, or other custom developments, and need assistance with migration, please reach out for support.

Potential Problems

• Premium Domain Names: WHMCS keeps the renewal pricing of the domain for reuse in its database (see table tbldomains_extra). Whenever the renewal pricing changes, which may happen if you switch to another Provider or whenever the underlying TLD Provider announced an price increase, WHMCS will be ending in an Renewal Error because of that pricing mismatch. This is basically a barrier that we introduced to protect our customers from losing money. Sadly, WHMCS Core does not offer some tooling or a process for automatically or manually updating the premium domain renewal price - we had a session often enough with them and a pricing change isn't expected for premium domains to happen at all in their opinion. The reality looks different ...
  If you need help with such cases, please reach out to us.
• SSL Certificates won't be migrated at all. Ensure to create new SSL Certificates at CentralNic Reseller to get them replaced right at time.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or need further assistance.