The process of changing hosting providers requires a certain amount of time, so it is best to approach it carefully. Today, we will discuss when it may be necessary to transfer a website to a new hosting provider and the main stages involved in such a migration.
When you might need to migrate your website to another hosting provider
You are dissatisfied with the quality of the hosting provider’s service – this reason may include poor-quality and slow technical support and difficulties with loading the website.
Frequent hosting downtime – this problem indicates low uptime (the time during which the website is continuously available). Low website uptime increases the likelihood that search engines will not find the right page to display.
DDoS attacks – these problems arise if the provider does not have a system to protect against such attacks.
The main stages of transferring a website to a new hosting provider
Adding a domain
To transfer a website, you need to link the domain to the hosting. This can be done manually by specifying the hosting DNS for the domain and adding the domain to the control panel. If the domain is registered with one company and hosted by another, you should specify the DNS servers of the hosting provider. It is also important to register an A record for the domain containing the IP address and pointing to the server where the website files are located. Depending on the provider, the domain section is often located in the hosting control panel.
Transferring files and databases
Depending on the provider, files can be transferred by connecting to the server via FTP or SSH. Databases can be managed using the interface built into the hosting panel, via the phpMyAdmin utility, console queries, etc. After transferring the site, you should add the current authorization data for the new database user to the configuration file (you can obtain this from your new hosting provider).
Adjusting the configuration file
This file may be named wp-config.php, configuration.php, or something similar. In the file, you should change the database connection and the path to the website files (if this is required for it to work).
Changing the domain link
To transfer a domain by changing the DNS servers, you need to find out their names from the new provider, log into your personal account on the old hosting, and change the NS records in the domain settings. An alternative method is to redirect the domain via an A record.
