Move your website to Linux hosting: backup restore and live copy

You can move a website from your previous host by yourself in the Migration & Restore tab of your service page. Choose the way that fits what your old host gives you.

What moves

• Websites, add-on domains, subdomains and parked domains included, each with its PHP version.
• MySQL databases, with the sites' settings rewritten.
• Mailboxes with their mail, forwarders, aliases and automatic replies.
• DNS records, certificates and cron jobs.

A domain's mail is imported once the domain points to this server.

Restore a backup file

1. Make a full backup of your account at your old host and download it: a cPanel full backup (backup-*.tar.gz or cpmove-*.tar.gz) or a Plesk backup (.tar or .zip, also split into volumes).
2. Upload it into this subscription with File Manager, for example into private/migrate; see upload files on Linux hosting.
3. Open Migration & Restore and select Choose Backup File under From A Backup, then pick the file.
4. When the backup has been read, select Choose And Move. Under What should be moved? tick the websites, databases and mailboxes, and the extra items such as DNS records and cron jobs.
5. Select Start Restoring, then Restore And Replace.

Fetch a backup from a web address

If your old host offers the backup at an http(s) address, the server downloads it straight into private/migrate; your browser does not carry it.

1. Select Download Backup under From A Web Address.
2. Enter the Address of the backup file and select Download And Read.
3. Continue with Choose And Move, as above.

Copy a running server

1. Select Connect To Server under From A Running Server.
2. Under Files, choose the Connection: SSH / SFTP, FTPS or FTP. Enter the Server name or address, the User name and the Password, or for SSH a Private key.
3. Select Connect And Look. When the old server has been read, select Choose And Move, tick what should be moved, select Start Copying and then Copy And Replace.
4. Right before you point the domain here, select Sync Again: files changed since the last copy are copied again, every chosen database is replaced with a fresh copy, and new mail is added.

Verify: File Manager shows the files, and the databases and mailboxes appear in their tabs.

After the move

1. Point your domain to this server: use our nameservers, or the Server IP address shown on Overview; see point a domain to your server.
2. Mail waits until the domain points here. From a backup it is then imported by itself, or select Import Mail Now; from a running server, select Sync Again.
3. Read the Report: what moved, what was converted and what was left out.
4. For a running server, select Finish. The old server's passwords are removed from this panel, and the migration cannot sync again. What was moved stays.

Troubleshooting

The backup cannot be read. Make sure the file is a full account backup in one of the formats above and that the upload finished; compare its size with the original.

A database does not connect after the move. Each database gets a name of this service, and the settings files of WordPress, Joomla, Laravel and other applications are changed to it. For another application, enter the new name from Databases in its settings.

Next steps

• The moved databases: databases on Linux hosting.
• Secure the moved site: free SSL on Linux hosting.