Moving a WordPress Site between hosting

  • Hi.
    I’ve just successfully moved one of my sites from paid hosting to free hosting, lock, stock, and barrel. It is exactly as it was before..

    I thought I’d share the procedure, as someone somwhere must find it useful.

    Here’s what I did:

    1. Backup all files from existing site, using ftp (filezilla)
    2. Backup the database, using wp-db-backup.
    3. Set-up the account at the new hosting place.
    4. Note the new FTP and DATABASE login details.
    5. Change the nameserver entries at the registrar end.
    6. Wait until DNS sorts itself out. (About two hours in this case..)
    7. Install a plain-vanilla wordpress install at the new hosting. (Need database settings from earlier). Login and install (sets up database tables..)
    8. Overwrite all files on new hosting with backed-up files. (Via FTP)
    ** IMPORTANT – do NOT overwrite wp-config.php **
    9. Restore database from backup using phpmyadmin. (Takes a while..)
    10. Stand back and admire.

    The site was down for less than 24 hours, and that includes the 16-hours break in the middle…

    Here’s the site in question : q292u.com

    There’s a slightly more detailed version of this post on my blog: q292u Blog

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

  • https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Moving_WordPress

    Thread Starter q292u

    (@q292u)

    Thanks for that esmi..
    Looks like I was just about right anyway.

    I have just moved another site today, without any real problems.
    (permalinks)

    Thanks to q292u, I just moved my site from GoDaddy to Hostgator and had almost no trouble. I’m reposting the process with slightly more detail for those who follow.

    1. Backup all files from existing site, with via FTP
    2. Backup the database, using the SQL backup utility in the control panel of your hosting account. This will produce a xxx.SQL file. Download it to your desktop computer.
    3. Create the new hosting account.
    4. Note the new FTP and DATABASE login details.
    5. Change the nameserver entries at the registrar to point to the
    hosting servers of the new site.
    6. Wait until DNS servers propogate the new location (I waited overnight, but it is usually stable within a few hours)
    7. Log into the control panel of the new site.
    8. Install WordPress using Fantastico.
    9. Log into the admin dashboard of the new site (xxx\wp-admin) to initialize database tables.
    10. Connect to new site with FTP client
    11. Make a copy of wp-config.php as a safety backup.
    This contains the new database connection.
    12. Upload all files saved from step 1 EXCEPT for wp-config.php,
    overwriting all matching files and directories.
    If you screw up and overwrite wp-config.php, restore from
    step 11 above.
    13. From new site control panel start phpMyAdmin SQL manager
    14. Select new database
    15. Start the Import process, and select the file saved in step 2

    When the SQL import is finished, your site should be functional.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
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