Move Your Website to a New Host, No Downtime

Moving a website to a new host sounds risky, and done in the wrong order it can be: a few hours of a blank page, lost emails, or a security warning on every visit. Done in the right order, visitors never notice.

The principle is simple. Build a complete, tested copy of the site on the new host while the old one keeps running, then switch the address over, and only shut the old host down once everything has moved. This guide walks through each step for a typical cPanel or WordPress site.

Prepare: inventory, backups and DNS

Take stock

Write down everything that lives on your current hosting. Missing one item is the most common cause of problems.

• Website files
• Databases, with their names, users and passwords
• Email accounts, forwarders and autoresponders
• DNS records, including MX, TXT (SPF, DKIM, DMARC, verification) and any subdomains
• SSL certificates
• Scheduled tasks (cron jobs)
• PHP version and any special server settings
• Where the domain is registered and who controls that account

Export a copy of the current DNS zone or take screenshots. You will need it later.

Take full backups

Make a complete backup of files, databases and email, and download it to your own computer or storage. Do not rely only on backups stored on the old host.

On cPanel, a full account backup covers most of this in one file. For WordPress, also export the database separately so you can restore it independently if needed.

Lower the DNS TTL in advance

Every DNS record has a TTL (time to live), which tells resolvers how long to cache it. As Cloudflare’s TTL documentation puts it, longer TTLs mean updates to your records take longer to take effect.

If your records currently have a long TTL, lower it on the records you will change, usually the A record for the domain and www, and wait at least as long as the old TTL before switching. Then, when you do switch, resolvers pick up the new address quickly.

Note the original TTL values so you can restore them after the move.

Build and test the copy on the new host

Set up the new hosting and copy the site

1. Create the hosting account and add your domain to it.
2. Match the PHP version and any required extensions.
3. Upload the files to the correct folder.
4. Create the database and user, then import the database.
5. Update the site configuration with the new database details (for WordPress, wp-config.php).
6. Recreate cron jobs and any server settings.

If your site is busy and content changes often, plan a short content freeze before the final copy so nothing posted on the old site is lost.

Test it before anyone else sees it

You can view the site on the new server before changing DNS by editing your computer’s hosts file. This file tells only your computer to send your domain to the new server’s IP address.

• Windows: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts
• macOS and Linux: /etc/hosts

Add a line with the new server’s IP address followed by your domain, and another for www. Save, clear your browser cache, and open the site. You are now seeing the new host, while everyone else still sees the old one.

What to test

• Every main page loads, including images and styles
• Forms send, and the emails arrive
• Logins, admin area and checkout work
• Search, filters and any integrations work
• No errors in the browser console or server error log
• Redirects and permalinks behave as before

Remove the hosts file lines when you are done.

Email and SSL

Move email carefully

Email causes more migration problems than websites. There are two common cases:

Tell users in advance if their mail client settings will change.

Prepare SSL

Visitors will see a security warning if the new server has no valid certificate for your domain. Many cPanel hosts issue free certificates automatically once the domain points to them. Check whether your new host can issue the certificate before cutover, or immediately after, and be ready to trigger it.

Cut over

1. Do a final sync of any content or orders that changed since your copy.
2. Update the DNS records (A records for the domain and www, and MX if email is moving) to the new host. If you are changing nameservers instead, make sure every record from your old zone exists in the new one first.
3. Watch traffic arrive on the new server and check the site from a different network or device.
4. Confirm the SSL certificate is active.
5. Send and receive test emails.

During the switch, some visitors may still reach the old server for a while, which is why it must stay online and unchanged.

Keep the old host running, then tidy up

Do not cancel the old hosting on the day you switch. Keep it until you are confident traffic and email have fully moved and nothing has been missed. Then:

• Restore normal TTL values
• Take a final backup of the old account
• Cancel the old hosting
• Transfer the domain registration if you want it in one place (optional)

Domain transfers are a separate step from moving hosting, and they can be done at the same time, later, or not at all.

Or let someone else do it

Hostlyx moves websites from other hosts for free, following the steps above: backups, a tested copy, email, SSL and a planned cutover with the old host kept online until everything has moved. Our web hosting runs on cPanel and renews at the price you paid: Starter Rs 799 a year, Economy Rs 1,299, Deluxe Rs 2,999 and Ultimate Rs 3,999. You can compare all hosting plans on one page. Hostlyx is a Zorixo Services company with its team in Bengaluru, India; customers outside India are invoiced by Zorixo Ventures Ltd, a UK company, through Stripe.

Get help with your move

If you would rather not do this yourself, or you want a site rebuilt while it moves, send us your site address and current host. We will reply with a migration plan and a fixed written quote for anything beyond the free move.