So you find yourself in a situation where you need to transfer WordPress to a new hosting provider. The circumstances for moving WordPress between hosting providers could be anything from having unreliable service, limited space, and incompatibility with themes being among some of the reasons. The move can also be necessitated by a financial strategy, no matter the reason or the host to which you are migrating to however, the process is still the same. It is important to cover all the necessary steps in ensuring a successful output once you complete moving your WordPress environment.
Preliminary Preparations
First of all before moving WordPress make sure that:
Your new host supports PHP version 5.2.4 or newer, The new location has a MySQL 5.0 or newer environment. Make sure to update your domain records and inform DNS servers where to point your WordPress URL, or rather, the new location for your WordPress. It is important to cover this step because the new WordPress installation package may require the URL for the installation.You will need the WordPress database and directory files to migrate WordPress. Backup your existing WordPress database and directory files from the location you are moving from. There are many ways of doing this, but in order to assure you of reliable results; it would be easier to use the "Wordpress Database Backup" which will create a file you can download and store locally on your computer. The WordPress Database backup is a plug-in that you need to have installed in your existing WordPress environment prior to the migration.
Installation
On the Administrative panel, look for "WP-DB-Backup" plugin on the Plug-ins panel and add as new plugin, then activate the plug-in. This is one plugin that makes it easy to backup all your WordPress database data without needing access to MyPHPAdmin on your Hosting provider.
The Backup Process
Go to the backup panel on Administration
Select the tables that you desire to backup on your WordPress Database
Chose one of the options where you can download it to your computer or store it up on cloud
Click on the backup button to execute. It will save the database files and directory files to the location you would have defined.
Installing WordPress in the new Hosting Location
Installing the WordPress Installation is not an overly difficult task, once you have your minimum requirements at hand, observe the following:
Fire up your WordPress installation and direct it to the new host, which will by now have propagated the required URL. The latest WordPress install is located at wordpress.org/download. It is free for use, and is packaged in a zipped archive. There are tools that will make the installation easier with a few clicks, but the process remains the same as you first installed your WordPress environment on your existing soon-to-be old host. With the WordPress environment installed, you can now begin moving WordPress.
Migrate WordPress to New Hosting Provider
Log in to phpMyAdmin and click on the import tab to upload your database, which is the file you backed up when you began to transfer WordPress. When you are prompted to replace the database tables, acknowledge it complete. In order to transfer WordPress directory files, replace the wp-content folder with the wp-content folder you downloaded from your initial backup. Many usually get it wrong and some are obligated to reconfigure their plug-ins and settings, however, replacing the database files first then the directory files second ensures that you will not need to configure any plug-ins once the installation is complete. If your WordPress was working well at the old location, the new environment should not behave any different if you complete the process well. Having done all this, run your URL login page and begin enjoying your new host location.
Don’t Forget about your Themes and Plugins
If you want to copy over your Theme or plugins from hold hosting provider you will need to ftp them off of your old provider, then ftp them up to your new hosting provider. Put your themes in the wp-content/themes folder and the plugins in the wp-content/plugins folder. Once they are uploaded you can select the theme under Appearance –> Themes in the WordPress admin, or in the Plugins page to activate the copied over plugins. Typically you shouldn’t have to upload over plugins unless you have a paid or custom plugin not in the WordPress depot.
This is an original article from WP Cypher Copyright 2012
