For one reason or another, there comes a time when you will simply have to up your stakes and move your website to another hosting provider.
But whether it is because you are upgrading to a higher service plan or are simply not happy with the job that is being done by your current provider, one thing is for sure: you will need to take the utmost care before you really start making the switch to another provider.
Below we will see the steps you will need to go through to move your site to another provider. It doesn’t matter whether it is a single page, a blog or a full-blown business or ecommerce site, the main concern here is that all components of the full site are moved with the least amount of downtime involved.
And so, here are the steps:
- Prepare your New Host: if possible keep the news that you are switching hosts under wraps, at least keep if from your current hosting provider. You shouldn’t let them know until you are absolutely ready to make the cut.
Start shopping for your new host. It would be ideal to have a list of all the specifications and requirements your site needs (literally all the ones that are being offered by your current site). You can add a few more if you are planning to upgrade.
- Get a Full Backup: once you have your new host ready, go back to your old site and take a full backup of everything – files and data – and download and keep a copy.
- Initial Tests: next comes the initial testing of the new site. Here we test to see if the basics work: Do the site and all its pages render as they’re supposed to? Are all the graphics and frames displayed as they should be? Do directories have the correct permissions? Is the speed OK? etc.
For this phase you don’t need to bring in more than the basics. What you are trying to do is test a few pages you suspect could have issues or those you had to specially modify or add features to.
- First Move: once preliminary testing proves successful it is time to bring the whole bulk of files and data over.
The best way would be to zip it all up with its file and directory structure intact, move it to the new server and then unzip it all to preserve the “as-is” integrity. Alternatively, if the environment of both the old and new servers is similar, you might be able to take a backup of the old files and restore them on the new one.
- Secondary Tests: once you think you have all your files and data on the new server it is time to implement an intense testing phase. First, test the site and all its processes without having it published (not visible on the internet and the public). Make sure that all links lead to where they are supposed to, all buttons perform like they should and all aesthetic properties have been correctly replicated.
If all of that is fine, you might want to go ahead and test your site by making it public and inviting people to access it from various locations. This will help gauge things like response times, loading speeds and language or regional issues.
- Domain Transfers: once all testing has been completed satisfactorily, it is time to bring the domain name to point to the new site. Ideally, the domain name is yours and you haven’t had it given you free by the hosting providers as is common today.
If not, it could prove a little tricky as the provider might not want to relinquish the domain name. But hopefully they will do so with a nominal fee or the full price of a domain name on the market today.
But, if you own your domain name outright, all you need to do is change the DNS servers to the new address and your new site should be available at your old domain name in a matter of minutes.
- Keep the Old Server: if you’ve still got some time left on your old domain, don’t be in a hurry to delete the content on it. Keep it up and running for as long as you can; it will come in handy should anything go wrong or if you need it for testing or comparison purposes.
- Links: if you have had to change or rearrange directories during your move, make sure you go around correcting your links on external sites and forums etc. and resubmitting new ones. Else, make sure you have redirect page to lead broken links to a help page.
- Deleting Data from Old Host: if all goes well and smoothly, it is time to part ways with your old hosting provider. Make sure you delete all data and notify the provider to disable all access to your account.
Of course, you will need to go through more detailed instructions to perform each step that has been listed above. But it would also be impossible to address every situation out there, because even if two hosting providers use the same server and operating system types they will have different ways of doing things like transferring (upload/download) files and configuring domain names.
Therefore, take this list as a broad guideline and implement the steps by following the detailed instructions provided to you by your hosting provider.
Good Luck!
