How do I move my site to another host?
There are a number of ways to move your site to another host. The procedures described below give just one of the possible options.

At all times it is recommended to make a checklist of actions to perform and tick the actions when they are finished. Take your time to prepare and to execute the move. In this way there is the least chance of errors occurring.

First a procedure that can be followed if the NEW server uses another domain name.

1. Make a fresh install on the NEW server with the same PHP-Fusion version you already have.
2. After you completed the installation, including the registration of the superadmin, go to Admin Panel -> System Admin and leave a browser window open on that page.
3. Make a complete backup of your site on the OLD server, both the files and the database (at least a complete database backup via Admin Panel -> System Admin -> Database Backup but it cannot hurt to make one via PHPMyAdmin, too, just in case).
4. Copy all files from the OLD server to the NEW server BUT DO NOT COPY config.php (or you will overwrite the file with the information necessary to approach your database). If you changed the db-backup folder of the site on the OLD server, make sure that you copy at least the most recent backup to ../administration/db-backups/ on the NEW server.
5. Go to the System Admin page you left open at step 2.
6. Go to Database Backup and restore the backup you made via the System Admin panel in step 3.
7. Re-login.
8. Put your present site in maintenance mode.
9. If any content was changed after you made the previous backup (forum posts, records of members who visited, unique visits counter) and you want to prevent the loss of that information, make a new database backup via Admin Panel -> System Admin -> Database Backup. Copy the backup to the correct folder on the NEW server and restore the database backup via Admin Panel -> System Admin -> Database Backup. Go to Admin Panel -> System Admin -> Miscellaneous Settings and switch Maintenance Mode off. (You did not put the site in Maintenance Mode but restoring the backup from the OLD server, where the site was put in Maintenance Mode, changed the setting).
10. Go to Admin Panel -> System Admin -> Miscellaneous Settings of the site on the OLD server and edit the Maintenance Mode message so that visitors will see a link to the site on the NEW server.
11. Go to Admin Panel -> System Admin -> Main Settings and update the necessary information (for example Site URL) to reflect the new domain name.

Please, be advised that any absolute URL's in the previous site (for example links in the forum pointing to http://www.site1.com/forum/...) may now lead to the site on the OLD server rather than to http://www.site2.com/forum/... on the NEW server.

Life site
The procedure to move a live site from on server to another and at the same time prevent unnecessary downtime is more complicated. It is possible to migrate your site with a minimum of downtime, though, but this needs even better preparation.

The procedure below assumes you have the IP addresses of both your OLD and NEW servers and that your site can be approached through that number.

Between steps 3 and 4 add:
3a. On the site on your OLD server go to Admin Panel -> System Admin -> Miscellaneous Settings. Edit the Maintenance Mode message, explaining that the site will be migrated and that when visitors see the Maintenance Mode message that they can temporarily view the site on "<a href='http://000.000.000.000/'>this page</a>". For 000.000.000.000 you enter the IP address of the NEW server. Take care; you may have to add a subdirectory if you are on a shared server, so that it may look something like 'http://000.000.000.000/apples/'.

In this way, visitors that come to your site through name servers pointing to the OLD server should see the Maintenance Mode message with the link to the NEW server (by IP address). Clicking the link will lead them to the NEW server. Visitors that come to your site through name servers pointing to the NEW server should immediately see the new site. In short, every visitor should come to the new site. The only 'but' is that absolute links will not work as long as the site is approached through the IP number. Since global updating of name servers should be complete in a few days this is only a temporal problem.

If you can set DNS servers yourself (for example through the control panel of your site's host), you must point the site name to the NEW server after you completed all the steps mentioned above. If the DNS servers are configured for you (and you have no influence over when it happens), make sure you have a file ready in the root of the NEW server that will lead visitors to the site on the OLD server using the URL with the IP address. At your earliest convenience you should then migrate the site.

The procedures described above only relate to the PHP-Fusion site and not to any other sites that may be installed on the hosting account on the OLD server. Copying all files from the OLD to the NEW server may also transport all html-based pages but anything that uses another database or another database prefix, may not have migrated with the rest (depending on the settings used during your database backup). Furthermore, there are other things to consider, like ftp accounts for persons other than you, email accounts, etc.
Top