If your site is currently hosted with North Star Marketing and you wish to transfer (move it) to a new host, we will provide a copy of your site files and database.
You will receive:
- A .zip file containing your WordPress folder structure and files within. These will be included in a folder “public_html” as that is the standard folder name for most hosts if they’re using cPanel (otherwise it would be “htdocs”). We typically name this file SiteName.zip. Example: If your site is abcd.com, your .zip file would resemble the same i.e. abcd.zip.
- A .sql file will be included in the .zip, this is your site’s database that contains all your data. This SQL file is the only one present within the zip alongside the public_html directory, it will be named similar to your site i.e. abcd.sql or similar.
Your new host will upload the contents of the folder and import the database. Please note that not all hosts perform these operations free of charge, please inquire ahead of time to ensure you don’t incur an unforeseen cost. Additionally, if you have a third-party handling the transfer you should also inquire if there is a fee for transferring because the new host you’re moving to might perform this for you free of charge as mentioned above.
If you yourself are transferring the site, you will need to:
- Upload the contents of the public_html folder to /public_html/ using a FTP Program such as Filezilla / WinSCP or if using cPanel, the file manager.
- Import the database using phpMyAdmin or MySQLDumper or BigDump or via SSH commands.
- Assign a user with all privileges to the new database you created, then imported the data into.
- Update the file wp-config.php located in the main WordPress folder.
(Replace the old database name, username, and password in the file with your new database credentials.) - File and URL paths will need to be updated within the database. You can locate a reference to the paths that need to be replaced within the config file by locating the line:
$wpe_all_domains=array ( 0 => ‘yoursite.wpengine.com’, 1 => ‘yoursite.wpenginepowered.com’, 2 => ‘www.yoursite.com’, 3 => ‘yoursite.com’, );
*If you’re not familiar with making changes to the URL within the database, you may wish to consider using WP Migrate to assist with this task.
Please Note: If you move to a new host, we will no longer provide support for your site unless you have a pre-existing/other arrangements made ahead of time. Please speak to your North Star Project Manager, Education Marketing Manager, or Marketing Manager before switching to make sure you have proper support lined up. Your new host may have an excellent support team, be sure to find out so you’re well informed and prepared in advance!