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Website migration
Moved without the outage.
A website migration should not take your site offline. The site is staged on the new server and tested there while the old one keeps serving, then DNS is cut over during a quiet period with the old server left running through propagation.
Databases, mailboxes and DNS records move together. Migration is part of onboarding at Hostingport, not a separate invoice.
How it runs
Six steps, in this order, every time.
1. Inventory
What is actually there: the site, its database, cron jobs, mailboxes, subdomains, certificates, and every service that sends mail as your domain. Migrations fail on the thing nobody remembered, so this step is the one worth being pedantic about.
2. Lower the TTLs
DNS records are set to expire quickly a day or two ahead. This shortens the propagation window on the day and is the single easiest thing to skip and regret.
3. Stage and test
The site is copied to the new server and run there on a temporary address while the old one carries on serving visitors. Forms, logins, checkout, cron, integrations — tested before anything changes for real.
4. Sync and cut over
At a low-traffic hour, recent changes are re-synced and DNS is pointed at the new server. Mail records change at the same moment so nothing is delivered to a mailbox nobody is watching.
5. Stay on it through propagation
The old server keeps running until the change has propagated, so visitors reach a working site either way. Certificates and mail authentication are verified on the new side.
6. Decommission
Once traffic has fully moved and mail is confirmed flowing, the old hosting can be cancelled — with a backup of it retained first.
What moves
All of it, not just the files.
- website files
- Application, uploads, themes and configuration, with permissions and paths corrected on arrival
- databases
- Exported, imported and re-synced at cutover so nothing written in between is lost
- mailboxes
- Existing mail copied with its contents, and records changed in step with the site
- dns
- Full record set rebuilt and checked, including the ones that only matter to mail
- certificates
- Issued on the new server before cutover, so nobody meets a browser warning
- scheduled jobs
- Cron and background workers recreated and confirmed running
- redirects
- Existing redirect rules carried across, which protects the search rankings you already have
Common questions
Migration, answered.
Will my website go down during the migration?
It should not. The site is copied to the new server and tested there while the old one keeps serving traffic. Only once it works is DNS pointed at the new server, and because the old one stays running through propagation, visitors reach a working site on whichever server they resolve to.
How long does a website migration take?
A straightforward site is usually staged and tested within a day, with cutover scheduled for a quiet period. Large databases, custom applications, or mailboxes with years of history take longer, mostly in transfer and verification rather than in work. You get an estimate after we look at what is actually there.
Will I lose my email?
Not if the mail is migrated properly. Existing mailboxes are copied across with their contents, and the mail records are changed at the same time as the site so nothing is delivered to a server that is no longer collecting it. Mail is the part of a migration most commonly done badly, so it is planned first.
What is DNS propagation and does it matter?
When a DNS record changes, resolvers around the world keep serving the old value until their cached copy expires. That window is propagation. It matters because during it, some visitors reach the old server and some reach the new one — which is why the old server stays up until it has passed, and why TTLs are lowered before a planned move.
Do you charge for migration?
Moving an existing site in is part of onboarding, not a separate invoice. Unusually large or complicated migrations get discussed in advance rather than surprising anyone afterwards.
What do you need from me to start?
Access to the current hosting account or a full backup, access to wherever the domain's DNS is managed, and a list of anything that sends mail as your domain. If access to the old host has been lost, that is workable but worth flagging early.
Tell us what you're running.
You'll get a straight answer about whether we're the right fit — including when we're not.