[ask] Transfer website between servers

[Abry75]

Hi all, I have several VPS server accounts on WHB and I have questions :

1. How to transfer a website ( including scipts and database ) from one VPS server to another or from VPS to DS?
2. What should I prepare before the transfer.

Thanks

[Arkadij S]

Hi Abry75,

For you to be able to transfer your website(s) smoothly, it is always advisable to backup the needed account and to upload this backup file to the destination server (another VPS or DS).
If the control panel on both source and destination servers is cPanel - you will be even able to use "Express Transfer" option, which causes less downtime.

A manual transfer of a separate website (which for instance used to be hosted under an addon domain on some account) is always not recommended. This may really become a pain in the neck, especially if there are databases which will require path re-pointing. Still, if you are intended to transfer a website in this way, you will need to archive the web root of this separate website (/home/%user%/public_html for the account main domain and /home/%user%/public_html/%subfolder% for addon/subdomain). Then you will need to create a MySQL dump of the databases, belonging to this website and also backup e-mail for that domain.

Therefore, there are 3 major points to keep in mind while planning the transfer, regardless of the way you choose:
1. You create a backup (either full or partial);
2. You transfer it to the destination server (via FTP or SCP protocol)
3. You restore backup files (or archives/dumps).

Apart from this, you will need to take care of the domain, of course. Namely, you will need to have its nameservers changed to the one of the destination server or, if the domain is pointed to the private ones (to those, which derive from this domain) you will need to create a DNS zone on the destination server and assign IP addresses to both NS. After that you will need to access your registrar's control panel and re-point those nameservers to the new IPs (change glue records).

All main concerns seem to be revealed. In case you have any other questions, don't hesitate to get back to this thread or PM me.
Additionally, you can always contact our technical support team, who usually take care of inter-server transfers upon request.

[Abry75]

Thanks Arkadij S. for the reply and explanation. I want to learn to transfer a website between VPS using cPanel so I can handle this without making someone else busy a friend of mine said that it's easier and faster to transfer a website using cPanel. are there any special issues or step-by-step instruction i should attention to?

I see transfer menu on WHM (on the left bar) as follow :
* Copy an account from another server
* Copy an account from another server with account password
* Copy multiple accounts/packages from another server
* Review Copied Accounts
Which one should I use if I want to transfer only one website from the VPS account?

Thanks.

[Helen K.]

Hello,

If you would like to use cPanel means for transferring your website we should tell you that you can perform transfer of the whole cPanel account (if your domain name is main domain of cPanel account then it shouldn't become a problem) only, otherwise (your site isn't main domain) it should be performed manually.
You can perform it with help of WHM if you choose one of the following options: * Copy an account from another server or * Copy an account from another server with account password. There you will see a lot of fields to fill.