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How to transfer a website

To move a website from one hosting account to another you need to transfer its files and folders and its database.

Depending on the application that you use to manage your site (e.g. Magento, WordPress, Joomla, etc.) you may also have to make some changes the configuration file of that application, or some other changes might be required.


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To get your website transferred send a ticket to the support team requesting a free website transfer.

Transferring Files

The most common and easy way to transfer files is with an FTP client (e.g. FileZilla). You have to connect with the FTP client to the hosting account from which you want to move the site and download the site's files and folders on your local computer. Then connect to the hosting account to which you want to move the site and upload the site's files and folders from the local computer to the hosting account. For information on how to configure and use some of the most popular FTP clients check out the HostKnox FTP tutorials.

A useful tip is to pack the site's files and folders into an archive before downloading them from the old account. Then download the archive on your local computer, upload it to the new hosting account and unpack it there. This will save you a lot of time.

Transferring Databases

To transfer the database of the site you have to export it from the hosting account from which you want to move the site and import it into a database on the account to which you want to move the site. You can do this with phpMyAdmin. You can usually access phpMyAdmin from the control panel of the hosting account (this depends on the hosting provider). HostKnox customers can access phpMyAdmin from the Databases section of the Pixie control panel; from there they can also add new databases. Don't forget that before you transfer the site's database you have to create a database on the new hosting account.

To export the database access phpMyAdmin on your old hosting account, click on the name of the database in the left frame. This will show its tables in the right frame. Above them there are some tabs, click on the Export tab. On the page that opens click on the Go button and select a place on your local computer where you want the SQL dump file to be downloaded.

To import a database, access phpMyAdmin, in the left frame click on the name of the database in which you want to upload the site's database. Then click on the Import tab at the top of the page. On the next page click on the Browse button and find the SQL dump file that's on your local computer. After that click on the Go button at the bottom of the page.

Databases can also be exported and imported via SSH. If your site's database is very big, you won't be able to transfer it with phpMyAdmin. It has to be done via SSH instead. For more information check out the article on how to transfer databases via SSH.

For some more details and screenshots check out the tutorial on how to migrate websites.

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