Many webmasters, especially the new comers find this task to be the most dreaded one. I also found out that many of these webmasters want to move to a new hosting, when things are not working really well with the current host. Most of them want to move out, but there is one thing that keeps on holding them back. They have so much files to move with them, especially their most valuable possession “database.” The majority of the websites today are database driven. Website of this kind is pretty much self-serve, and self-managing. Most common website types run by database are blogs such as this one, forum, e-commerce, CMS, video sharing community, etc..
Moving any type of database driven is just pain in the butt ( I hope I am allowed to say it here).
Thank you for the c-panel technology. c-panel is in fact came to the rescue when transferring your website from one hosting to the next provided that both hosting companies are running c-panel. You will just have to make an arrangement with your new hosting company about the transfer, and they can accomplished this with amazing speed and precision.
Now, here is the problem for those people who are not being hosted with a c-panel account manager. I remember reading a topic at one forum that I found while surfing the net. One webmaster posted a question, asking how he can move to a new hosting. Noting the condition of his website, that his database alone is almost close to one gig. Wow! I was amazed, this guy is probably have so many members. He also claimed that he cannot wait for that day that he is moving out of his present hosting provider, he was so unhappy about the service for so many years, and the only thing that is holding him from moving is the database.
I guess he can no longer take all the broken promises of his host. If I was in his situation, I would move out of there in less than two days . To all the people who are afraid to move to a better server, please don’t be. Here is the tutorial that will show you how to move your database driven website to the new server or hosting company. Everyone deserves to be treated nicely by their hosting company, and there should be no broken promises hidden within those fine prints.
In this tutorial, I will be using the SMF forum as my example. I will move this forum from one hosting to the next. Don’t worry, if you have a different type of website the process is exactly the same. The reason I choosen the SMF, because it is harder to move this site than any other type of website.
Back up all your files FIRST!
Log on to your account under your current hosting company. Make a back up of all the files in that account. To make a back up, you will have two choices. If you are being hosted by a host that is running c-panel, your life just got a little bit easier. You will just have to click back up then download the zip file and you are done. If you are one of those unfortunate, you will just have to do it through FTP program. Run your FTP program such as filezilla, and download all your files to your PC.
How to make a copy of your Database for the new server?
The majority of the hosting companies are using the mysql databases. If your website is using a different one, then you will probably have to seek the help of your current host. For the sake of this tutorial, I will be focusing on the mysql databases. Here we go..
If you are hosted with a c-panel access, log on to your account and go down to “Databases” table. Click on the PhpMyAdmin. Please refer to the image below.

In other hosts, this menu may appear different, but the idea is still the same. The phpMyAdmin is always there as one of the options. After clicking on the phpMyAdmin, a new window will open and this is your database admin. Again, please refer to the image below.

In this example, I will be exporting the database named “icp.” Click on the name of the database. If you have more than one database, you will have to repeat this process for each one. Below is the image of how the database will appear on your screen.

Click on “CheckAll.” Make sure that everything on this table are checked. The next step is to go up on the page and click on the export button as shown on the image below.

The export options will be showing on the page on the left hand side will be something like on the image below.

Once again click on the “Select All” option to highlight every thing inside the form. Below the “Export” option is the type option. Make sure you ticked the “SQL.”

Below is the Structure option, make sure they are checked as shown on the image below.

The data option. By default these selections are already checked. Just in case they are not, please put a check next to these options just like the screen shot below.


Above is the Save option, and we want our database to be save as “zipped” click “OK,” a window prompt should appear on your screen, click save and your database is now saved on your desktop as a zipped file. you can unzipped this now, or later it does not matter.
If you have several databases, this is the right time to download them. Download everything from your phpMyAdmin . Don’t worry about deleting any thing, because when you send out your final notice to your current host, they will eventually do the deleting themselves. Your main mission at this time is to make sure every file in the server are transferred on your PC.
We are done with the database export. The next article will be the actual move, but before we can do this, you will have download everything first. Once you are done downloading all of your files from your current host, you can begin processing the “Change of nameservers.” I will not get into this topic in great detail. When you apply for a new hosting account, the new host will give you this information. For example it could be like this ns1.someserver.com,,something in this format.
Preparing you Domain name for the Move! How to change your domain’s nameserver?
Just what I have already mentioned above, you will have to change the nameserver of your domain. To do this, you will have to log on to your domain account. This is the account when you register your domain. If you register your domain through godaddy, then you have to log on to that account and change the nameserver of your domain. If will take about 2 to 3 hours before the changes can take effect.
While we are waiting for the changes to take effect, you can make a file inventory of what you have on your PC against what is on the old server. Please make sure are downloaded properly. FTP programs are known to drop files during transfer, so just make sure all files are on your PC.
This topic will continue on my next article..




















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