Migrate a site yourself

The manual path, for developers who want control over each step.

If you would rather do it yourself, this is the order that avoids the usual mistakes.

1. Create the destination site

   Same PHP version as the source, to remove one variable.

2. Export the database

   From the old host, with mysqldump or the panel's export.

3. Copy the files

   rsync over SSH where the old host allows it; otherwise SFTP. Uploads are usually the bulk of the transfer.

4. Import and rewrite URLs

   Import the dump, then run search-replace for the temporary address.

5. Test on the temporary address

   Permalinks, forms, the checkout, and any hard-coded absolute URLs.

6. Lower the TTL, then switch DNS

   A day before the switch, drop the TTL to 300 seconds.

mysqldump -u user -p olddb > site.sql
rsync -avz --progress ./public/ site-user@sftp.webvuecloud.com:~/public/
wp db import site.sql
wp search-replace 'https://old.example.com' 'https://site-name.wvcloud.site' --skip-columns=guid
wp rewrite flush