How to switch from one hosting to another. Important points and common mistakes that should not be made

If you do everything correctly when transferring a site from one hosting provider to another, your web resource will work "in a new place" in 3-24 hours. Let's look at the main nuances of this process.

Before starting transfer

Make sure the new host supports the same technology stack as the old one. This applies to versions of PHP, DBMS, etc. The new version should not be lower than the old one. Otherwise, the likelihood of problems with the site is rather big.

Now we move

IMPORTANT MOMENT. Moving a site involves copying data (web resource files, databases, etc.) and placing them with a new hoster. So, do not rush to delete files from the old provider. Nobody rushes you with this. As soon as you understand that the site works without any problems in the new location, you can “demolish” the files from the old hoster.

The process of transferring a site from one hosting to another can be divided into 3 stages.

1.Copying site files

At this stage, pages, scripts, pictures, videos and configuration and other files necessary for the operation of the web resource are copied.

You can do everything in several ways.

Most often, the hosting control panel is used for this. In it, you need to select all the site files (they are usually located in the public folder_html), select the "Compression" panel item. The files will be archived and stored on the hosting. After that, they need to be downloaded to the local computer (again, using the control panel or via ftp client).

IMPORTANT. The compression option is only suitable if the new hoster supports working with archives. This is implemented by most modern providers. But you never know… If suddenly this is not possible, you will have to download the files one by one, without archiving.

After that, the archive is uploaded to the new hosting and unpacked on it (or the files are uploaded one by one).

Site files on many popular CMS can be copied through the admin panel. This is the second way to "move".

2. Formation of a dump (copy) of databases

This can be done in two ways:

• Via command line or database console. The method is suitable for those who have experience in programming and forming database queries.
• Through the database management system (in most cases, phpMyAdmin). In it you need to select a database, select all of its tables and select the "Export" item in the DBMS.

On the side of the new hoster, everything is done in reverse order - the database is deployed from the file obtained in the previous step by means of the DBMS (the "Import" option) or through the console (terminal, SSH).

3.Working with configuration files and domain transfer

After loading the site and the database on the new hosting, some actions are required with the CMS configuration files. They need to write the name of the database, username and password to access it (as a rule, they are given by the hoster when purchasing services). You also need to change the paths to the files logs, tmp, etc.

After that, you can already check how the site works with the new hoster. For this, a technical domain is used (how to switch to it - check with the support service of the provider to which you are moving).

The final stage is changing the DNS records of the domain. This can be done, for example, through the domain name control panel at your registrar. Everything is simple here - the old records are deleted, the new ones that the provider will give you are registered (copy and paste from the new provider's letter).

What about an SSL certificate?

Don't worry, you won't have to buy a new one. You just need to transfer it. In this case, the certificate itself and the private key are copied, which are installed on the new hoster. You can ask for help from the experts of the certification authority that issued the SSL, or those. support for the new hoster.

After everything works for you, you can delete files from the old hosting.

By the way, almost any hoster provides services for the transfer of sites to themselves. Someone does it for free, while others do it for money.

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