Need to swap a wordpress sites hosting. Please advise me if you can.

[Pachino]

Hi guys,

 

I currently host a web site for a friend here...

http://www.blackoutfm.co.uk/

 

Whilst the site is nothing more than a wordpress template it now has many more members than my friend ever anticipated, so he doesn't want to just scrap it and restart over what I fully understand.

 

I need to stop using this host however and go over to another hosting company that in my view have much better support. I therefore need to swap this site from its current location to the new hosting provider.

 

I appreciate there may be some downtime with the site and that's fine, but can anyone explain step by step in beginner terms what I am to do here. Would be greatly appreciated. I going to guess its not as simply as drag and drop

 

Many thanks in advance for constructive replies.

[newseed]

In a nutshell:

 

1. Select your new host you want to use and set up your hosting account. (note: At this point do not change your dns to the new host. We will get to that latter.)

 

From the OLD current hosting account:

2. Back up all your Wordpress files, zip it and then download it unto your computer.

3. Export the database via phpMyAdmin and save it to your computer. (note: In most cases the default settings will suffice)

 

To the NEW hosting account

4. Upload the Wordpress files to the domain folder that was created for you.

5. You host should give you the capability to create a new database. Create one now. (note: you can try using the same database settings as the old database but some host will differ and so changes may be required). Also, it's rare but when you do create a new database it may give you the option to upload your database file. If so, give it try. Don't be surprise if you encounter an error though. (see #6)

6. If required, (see note above), you may have to edit the database file itself. Check for the database file to see if it uses something like Create Database:

Example:

CREATE DATABASE `databasename`

DEFAULT CHARACTER SET latin1

COLLATE latin1_swedish_ci;

USE databasename;

 

If you do see something like this then you can remove those lines of code. If you don't you may not be able to import the database.

6. Configure your WP config file. If required, (see note above), open the wp_config.php file and change the login credentials to match your new database settings. (i.e. DB_NAME, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD, DB_HOST). Save it.

 

If this done correctly you should be able to view the site in it's new location even though the dns has not changed. Check with your new host about what url to use to preview and test your WP site.

 

One you are satisfied that it's fully functional then go back to wherever the domain name is registered at and change the dns to match the new host's dns settings. In most cases it will only take a few hours but possibly up to 24 hours.

 

From a user's perspective they should not be interrupted at all.

 

You can easily verify the the WP site is viewed from the new host by adding or changing something in the header or footer file or just make a new post.

 

My info maybe vague and not all host are the same. Also, you can view WP's comprehensive instructions on how to move your blog to a new server (host).

[Pachino]

Hey there,

 

Thank you so much for your time taken to write all of that. Deeply appreciated.

 

Ill report back and let you know how it went out of courtesy. Ill be making a start in the first week of Jan.

 

Thanks again.