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How to move a site WordPress

An email from a friend. I don't have the time to work this out with them, so I will post this here and hopefully you can answer all of his questions about how to move the site:

<blockquote>> So I am having some trouble with a site I made. I switched
> servers, but before I did I downloaded the FTP files and
> then exported the databases, but when I uploaded everything,
> and imported the databases, the site isnt there any more???
> Wondering if you have a minute to help me out??</blockquote>

Answers (9)

2011-12-20

Romel Apuya answers:

this problem is on the domain settings.
you need to point your domain i.p to the new server.

2011-12-20

Jerson Baguio answers:

Hi lawrence,

can i ask for the ftp and login details i got time to check on your friends site.

2011-12-20

larrieberndrocha answers:

What is the URL of the site? What kind of site is this? What CMS (Wordpress, Drupal) is being used?

To transfer a domain from one webhost to another:
1. Backup files and database of the domain in the old host.
2. Add domain, upload files and setup database of the domain in the new host.
3. Update Nameserver and wait until it's propagated.

There must be an issue in between. Potential issues:

Step 1: Big sites have tendencies of having incomplete database backup or export. Make sure that your database is complete. Make sure that you have all the files installed.

Step 2: Importing the database doesn't make the setup complete. Different account have different database name initials. Make sure that the MYSQL information on the CMS (say wordpress) has been updated and correct.

Step 3: Web host have different waiting propagation waiting time. If the above steps are correct, probably, all you have to do is to wait till the propagation is complete.

2011-12-20

Arnav Joy answers:

did you changed the url in the database , your query don't look complete can you explain it more


Arnav Joy comments:

can you tell me the url's of old site and new site?

2011-12-20

Daryl Lozupone answers:

The question is a little vague, but here are the necessary steps to transfer a WordPress site from one hosting account to another:

1. Export databases from MySQL
2. Download files via ftp
3. On new hosting account, add domain name
4. Upload files to new host
5. Create database on new hosting acccount, noting db name, username and password
6. Import database tables
7. Edit wp-config.php to reflect new database settings (specifically: db name, username, and password)
8. Assuming this transfer is keeping the old domain name itself, update the nameservers with the registrar. (If the domain name is changing, you will have to modify it in the wp_options table in the database)
9. Wait for propagation and test. You can verify your nameserver settings using whois on linux/unix/mac/etc or you can use this online tool: [[LINK href="http://networking.ringofsaturn.com/Tools/whois.php"]]http://networking.ringofsaturn.com/Tools/whois.php[[/LINK]]

i hope that helps. If you have any further questions, feel free to post them.

2011-12-20

Marko Nikolic answers:

In short, I assume that he did these two steps correctly (ftp files and db import).

After that he should check wp-config.php and fill right info there.

Next step is to go to db in phpmyadmin and to edit <strong>wp_options</strong> table. - he will see his old address there and he should change that:

<strong>siteurl</strong> (first line)
<strong>home</strong> (35-36th line).

2011-12-20

nina magbanua answers:

Hi,

You should change the value on your database on wp_options table. Change your value on the fields siteurl and home with your new site url.

2011-12-20

Paul Gregory answers:

Your friend only had one question, although three additional question marks were deployed to emphasise confusion. The answer to your friend's question is in your question to us, and it is No.

It's impossible to solve the problem without asking more questions; it would have been more helpful if you'd given your friend a credit for this site and told them to ask here as they could then comment. As it is, your friend may have got help from another friend in the meantime.

Indeed, it's not even 100% clear that your friend's missing site ran WordPress at all. As databases are plural there's a good chance that it is at least running something else as well.

The part that has alarm bells ringing for me is "the site isnt there any more". Isn't where? How is this tested?

What you need is an answer that you can copy/paste back to your friend. Here is my effort:

The solution depends on how the not-being-there manifests itself.

A) Website shows generic Coming Soon message despite all files being in FTP:
New hosting contains an index.html which has priority over index.php - delete index.html and site will be visible.

B) Website shows blank white page despite all files being in FTP:
Most likely to be an error in the database connection file - either a semi-colon is missing after changes or no changes have been made and the details are wrong. It's possible that a better error will be visible if viewed in Firefox because Internet Explorer tends to assume very short error messages are always equivalent to 404. (Chrome does some other unhelpful things with failing pages).

C) Website shows generic message and no files are in FTP:
Files were actually uploaded to the Old Site during propagation and now the empty New Site is being viewed. Upload a simple HTML file, see if that is viewable, and if so upload everything again. If errors persist, it's a misconfigured site, not an issue with moving.

2011-12-21

Dennis answers:

I just successfully migrated a site this morning. After you uploaded your site files and imported the database, you need to make some change in the database like this:
1. UPDATE wp_options SET option_value = replace(option_value, 'http://www.original.com', 'http://www.current.com') WHERE option_name = 'home' OR option_name = 'siteurl';
2. UPDATE wp_posts SET guid = replace(guid, 'http://www.original.com','http://www.current.com');
3. UPDATE wp_posts SET post_content = replace(post_content, 'http://www.original.com', 'http://www.current.com').
That should do it.