Website Hosting & Domain

[SkidMarkKing]

Hi guys,

I am getting a few clients asking if I do website hosting/can take over from there previous host (They are getting some quite expensive renewals). They use us for IT support and would to move to us for other services in which we offer.

With being in IT support that isn't an area i've actually covered (Our own website is a wordpress one and the domain is with cloudflare).

Is there much to transferring a website to a new host if I was to take it on as a website host reseller??

Thanks

 

[ChroniC]

There is if your not familiar with it, but it's not terribly difficult to learn and make it simple...

Assuming like yours it's WordPress..
You basically need to consider 4 things..
Files.. Database... Emails.. DNS...

The files are simple, you just need to zip up the whole public directory with the WordPress install (which contains the theme, plugins folder and uploads folder) it's easier just to take everything that seperate and reinstall all of this..

The database needs to be exported from PhpMyAdmin as an sql file, you then create a new database on your hosting and import it..
There is a file inside the WordPress files called wp-config.. It has a database name, username and password entry, you need to change these to the new one you setup to reconfigure the files looking for the correct database..

Emails are tricky.. These might not exist on the server, although they might.. The MX records in the DNS will point to either a service like Outlook or Gmail or to the server itself... If their emails are on the server, you might need to transfer them which differs from each hosting. If the records suggest the MX host is Gmail, then your fine, as the emails will be stored there..

DNS, knowing who owns this is important, you might need to get this transfered to you or to be setup with a registrar like Godaddy etc. Getting the business owner to setup this is best practice as they should always have control over the website not the hosting owner ideally. The @record IP will need to be changed to your hosting IP, the MX records will need to be checked, any subdomains will need to be checked and all the records need to be transferred if your taking over or replacing the DNS registrar.. The easiest solution here is if the business owner owns the Domains already then all you need to do is change the A(@) record IP.

It is a lot, it can be scary because each part could take down the site but once you do it once, it becomes quite simple there after.