The topic of this article has long been described and rewritten many times. We would not have taken on it again, if not for one fact. IT companies continue to be contacted by site owners who need to transfer files to another hosting with data preservation. However, after studying the material on this topic, we found that many works contain the same errors. Therefore, we decided to dispel some doubts.
The asset of any site is its visitors. Their number must be maintained and increased. The second asset is the content that should be of interest to visitors to the resource. Site content should be accessible and interesting. After all, this is one of the main ways to retain users. We mean not only the material itself, but also reviews and comments on the work of the site, the quality of goods and services, etc. It happens that comments are much more interesting than the content on the page itself.
The speed of loading and work of the site is not inferior in importance. People don’t like to wait long. It is noticed that if the site is loaded for 2-3 seconds longer, the user leaves the site and goes to your competitors. Only regular visitors are ready to wait for the completion of technical work. So do not delay with this matter – during unforeseen situations, throw all your strength into restoring the site’s work. If visitors leave and the site doesn’t work, the business suffers serious losses.
Provide your resource with uninterrupted operation. Keep track of the importance and relevance of the content. Hosting quality affects the quality of the site. If your resource is already large, then small virtual hosting will not work. If you started with a small site, then to move to a more serious hosting you will need to transfer data.
Reasons for moving the site to a new hosting:
1. Technical difficulties… Any site is located on a server – a large computer that has its own address on the Internet. The resource takes up a certain amount of disk space. The server may freeze, take a long time to reboot. This happens if the sites located on this computer are accessed a large number of times.
Server problem options:
· Frequent error messages on the server. Errors up to 500 indicate that the server is down or shut down.
Provided that your site has content in the form of ordinary pictures or photos, small videos, high-speed Internet, a modern computer, while the site hangs for a long time when loading the page, then the conclusion is obvious – problems with hosting. Measure the speed of other sites on the same server. The cy-pr.com service will help you with this.
· Overloading the anti-virus program. Often displays messages about a large number of viruses. At the same time, you work correctly: periodically change the already complex passwords, the antivirus program is reliable. Access to administrative sections is possible only from an individual IP address.
2. The transition to another hosting can be for other reasons.:
· If the current hosting does not provide operational technical support. Operators should give detailed answers to all your questions, no matter how many of them. If with every call you try to get an explanation, they keep you waiting or disappear altogether, then you will think about changing hosting.
· It may be unprofitable for users of foreign hosting services to continue using their services, given how much the national currency is depreciating.
· The local server does not allow any user to get to the site. This will require a new hosting provider.
When are you going transfer site to another server, you must first save the data. It is very important to avoid downtime. Why? When a user tries to visit your site and sees that it is not working, they may think that the site is closed. Remember that there are a lot of competitors around who can easily “take” your customers while you transfer data to another source. The picture, when the resource is not available, does not characterize you from the best side. Users cannot guess the reasons for the suspension. They need a website now, but they don’t. Doubtful.
Saving data when moving a site to a new hosting.
First, find the right provider that suits your needs. There are many ratings of the best hosting on the Internet. Read user reviews, ask experienced colleagues for opinions. If the selected provider does not transfer data, you will have to transfer it manually.
Here are the steps to take:
· Download the folder with the resource;
· Download the database;
· Clean up old hosting;
· In the control panel, add a new domain name;
· Change the DNS address;
· Upload the folder with the resource;
· Uploading the database.
The work is not difficult. We save all the data, and then transfer it to a new location. FTP and SSH protocols will help to download the folder. Or use the control panel. If you are using WordPress then download wp-content. This is where all the necessary data for the site is contained. Reinstall your engine on a new hosting and upload your folder instead of wp-content. But it’s best to download the entire resource so as not to miss any directories. If you are using the phpmyadmin utility, select the Export function. On the server, use the control panel, where the necessary tool for downloading the database is located.
Now we delete the domain on the old hosting, add it to the new one. We also change the dns address. You will carry out this work through the Domains item. To change the dns address, go to your account and select the desired domain. In the same panel, you will change DNS. Write down the new address and save.
If you have any difficulties with the dns address, please contact the hosting support service. The answer is in the FAQ section. After that, you need to wait a maximum of a day, during which time the address will be changed.
Uploading files to a new location.
There are many ways how to upload files to a new hosting. For WordPress users, you need to specify the database name in wp-config. Make sure that the username, password, table prefix match the values in phpmyadmin. Use the server control panel or phpmyadmin utility.
You can do it differently. Install the engine over the new one and copy the wp-content folder. The option is convenient because this way you will update the engine to the latest version.
Council.
It is best if you have multiple copies of the database. In this case, a lot does not mean bad. One copy can be lost, on the other something goes wrong. If you enter new information, you will not understand what is where. Create several places where files will be stored.
