Where to find video guide on moving same domain to different web host?

Hey @gemstar,

I’m not sure if one exists… I have thought about making one, just have not had the time…

Cheers~

Hi Cory,

I would greatly appreciate if you could make one. I have searched everywhere including youtube and none shows how to move the same domain to different web host. Thanks.

Right now I only have one shared hosting account, the rest are all dedicated. If you have two different shared hosts and your willing to give me temporary access to your systems I’ll perform the migration for you and record the process for others… If that is something your interested in shoot me a help ticket with this forum URL and I’ll see if I can make it happen…

Hi Cory! I opened a help ticket yesterday referring to this thread. I am willing to give you access to perform the migration for my site to help others if gemstar hasn’t done so. I started the process on my own but I still feel lost on how to do it to move hosts maintaining my domain etc. All the tutorials I’ve seen only demonstrate moving from local host to new host or using new domains. Thank you!!!!

What I guess is nobody actually knows the proper process of how to move a site (that is already live) to a new host using duplicator except Cory, as it involves changing of nameservers and site could go offline and site and rankings could disappear from google if not done properly.

The process would be more difficult than local host to new host or using new domains so I guess nobody actually know how to do that using the duplicator plugin. All videos in youtube are mostly repeating the plugin author guides, so I guess is the video makers could be seen as “an expert” since they could not go wrong by just parroting what others have done.

I asked the question because I might be moving to a new host, so I wanted to learn in advance. I did not move anything yet. I think there would be more people doing moving to new host than moving to new domains.

I agree. Definitely more people moving to new hosts than new domains. Usually the new host will take care of the transfer but since with my current host I don’t have a cPanel the new host can’t do it for me. It has to be done manually which is something that freaks me out! I don’t think there should be any risk of losing stats or rankings since the domain remains the same. The name servers just have to be pointed in the right direction which has happened before when I moved hosts but I just don’t feel confident that I’ll put it on the new server properly. I’ve already got my account with my new host so hopefully Cory can do a tutorial using me that will help you gemstar once you do decide to move!

Yes, this would be extremely helpful. I’m trying to do the same thing – moving to new host but keeping the same domain.

As I mentioned earlier I will try and do a video, but it will probably take a bit as this is just a side project…

Overall moving from localhost to a host is not much different than moving from host to host. Basically all you are doing is moving from server to server; be it at your home or hosted at a facility. The only extra steps would be updating your registrar and waiting for the DNS to propagate, which means you could see a small amount of downtime.

Here are the steps off the top of my head that you can perform when moving from host to host:

OH = OLD HOST and NH = NEW HOST and REG = Registrar (example godaddy)

1. OH: Create the package and download to local computer
2. NH: FTP package (archive.zip and installer.php) to new hosting server
3. NH: Create the database and setup (fast-forward to 5 min mark)
4. NH: Run installer and make sure on step 2 to keep your domain name the same.
5. NH: When installer is finished on step 3 you will not be able to test the site yet because the domain name is still pointing to your OH. You can still check the directory and database to make sure all the files were extracted and the database was populated. You can also change the hosts file on your local computer to point to the IP address of the NH to test the changes without waiting for the DNS change to happen. Be sure however to remove it when your done testing.
6. REG: Browse out to your registrar, I use godaddy for this some people will have their OH manage this. Update the name servers to point to the NH nameservers.
7. Wait for the propagation to happen this can take between a few hours to days with some registrars.
8. OH: Make a small change in a page or post and turn off all cache plugins or put this site in maintenance mode if downtime is ok.
9. NH: Keep browsing to the page with the small change to see if its no longer present; this way you will know the site is now officially moved.

As I mentioned above I will try to create a video that will help but it may be a bit before I can get to that…

Hope this helps….

That helps tremendously. Thanks Cory. Changing the hosts file is a great idea.

Excellent glad that helped!

Hi Cory,

Thank you for a step by step guide above.

How do I run an installer.php on my NH if my website still has the DNSs of my OH?

I get page not found which is logical as there is no installer.php on my OH.

Thanks in advance!

Hey @amatulic,

I’m not 100% sure if this is what your asking… but the only way to change the domain name so it points to a non-public DNS server is to change your hosts file on your local computer, at that point it doesn’t matter what you type into your address bar as long as its the IP that you want it to point to..

Cheers~