Migrating websites is a chore. For me, it requires actions on my old host, old WP admin, new host, new WP admin, and Cloudflare. The individual actions – with one or two exceptions – are not terribly difficult or complicated, but have to be done just right and in just the right order to keep things from going haywire. My last post gave the background of my current migration effort. This post covers the nuts and bolts.
WordPress.org offers advice on Moving WordPress in a variety of scenarios. Very near the end of the rather intimidating article I find … “The Duplicator plugin helps administrators move a site from one location to another.” So, I disregard all the complicated manual steps I just read, and move on to the excellent Duplicator plugin.
Duplicator definitely makes the process easier, but there are still numerous steps and opportunities for things to go sideways. For me, the basic steps …
- Old WP admin:
- Install and activate the Duplicator plugin
- Create and download a Duplicator “package” – this consists of a large archive file and a small installer file.
- New host:
- Create a new user account/site in DirectAdmin (mydomain.com)
- Navigate to the DNS settings in the DA control panel, copy down and screen-shot all the DNS settings information.
- Cloudflare:
- In the DNS tab, delete the old DNS settings, enter the new DNS settings. This will point the domain to the new host, propagation time is almost instant
- New host, back in the DA control panel:
- Set the PHP version
- Create a new mySQL database and user, copy down and screen-shot the settings information (DB name, user name, password)
- Create/install a Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate
- Using FTP:
- Upload the Duplicator package to the new host
- Using a web browser:
- Run the Duplicator installer (e.g. https://mydomain.com/installer.php), carefully follow the instructions
- New WP admin:
- Duplicator should automatically delete its files
- Visit the site, browse around, check that everything looks nominal, including the SSL lock in the browser address bar
There may be some additional steps, for Duplicator by default creates a bare-bones htaccess file. I have to add back in any “optional” stuff like the 7G firewall.
Hopefully all the above will go smoothly, but I can’t count on it. I need to be prepared to handle any glitches/issues/problems that crop up.
Next chore – email migration.
