Website migration guidelines

Website Migration (New Hosting Service): A new hosting service is a new web hosting subscription. All new hosting services are provided with a free website migration. If you have signed up for a new hosting subscription and would like to benefit from a free website migration, submit your request to our team.

⚠️ Please note that domain registrations and domain transfers are not classified as new hosting services. For domain names, view the new domain name registration and domain name transfer guides.

Website Migration (Existing Hosting Service): An existing hosting service is one that you have subscribed to in the past and has already benefited from a free website migration. If you require an additional website migration to an existing hosting service, you can use the steps provided in this guide to complete your migration for free or submit a request to our team. Please note that website migration requests for existing hosting services will carry a service fee starting at $25 per website.

To complete your website migration to an existing hosting service, use the steps below in sequential order. Please note these steps apply to WordPress websites, however can be used as a general guideline to perform migrations for a wide variety of website types.

A. Create an FTP user account at your old provider

1. Log in to your old provider’s hosting control panel
2. Go to the FTP tool or section
3. Create an FTP user
4. Take note of the following credentials in a secure spot that you can access, you will need these credentials to migrate your website files:

  • FTP Username:
  • FTP Password:
  • FTP Port:
  • FTP Host:

5. You should now have FTP credentials to log in to your old hosting provider file manager. Once you have noted down your FTP credentials, move to the next section.

B. Copy your website files from your old provider using FTP

1. Open an FTP application on your computer – if you do not have one, download and install FileZilla
2. On your computer desktop, right-click anywhere on the screen
3. From the dropdown, select New Folder
4. Right-click your new folder and select Rename
5. Name your folder in this format: yourdomain.com-files (replace yourdomain.com with the domain name of the website you are migrating)
6. Open the FTP application on your computer
7. Use the FTP credentials you created in the previous section to connect to the file manager of your old hosting provider. Once connected, your file manager will appear on the right-hand screen, and your computer desktop on the left-hand screen.
8. On your old hosting provider’s control panel, navigate to the public_html of the website you’d like to migrate
9. Select all of the files and folders inside of your website’s public_html, then click and drag all of them to the files folder you created on your desktop
10. Let the full FTP process run, which will create a full copy of your website files on your desktop folder. Depending on the size of your website, this can take anywhere from a couple of hours and/or a full 24 hours to complete. Keep your computer screen active to allow the FTP to run without disconnecting. Once the FTP is completed, the queued files tab will show as empty.
11. Once the website files have been fully copied into your desktop folder through FTP, minimize your FTP application on your computer screen.
12. Now, on the files folder you created on your desktop, right-click it and select Compress (or Zip) from the dropdown
13. You should now have a compressed copy of your website files on your desktop computer saved in a .zip format and you can move to the next section.

C. Migrate your website files from your old provider to Skystra

1. Log in to your hosting control panel
2. Click on Domains

3. Click on + Add New

4. Type in your domain name next to the Domain: field and click the Create button

5. Return to your hosting control panel homepage
6. Click on the File Manager button

7. Double-click the domains folder

8. Locate your domain name folder and double-click it

9.  Inside your domain name’s folder, you will see a public_html folder, double-click to open it up

10. Now you are in your domain name’s public_html folder. At this point, you can upload files to your domain’s public_html folder. Click the [+] button on the left-hand side to get the file upload popup window

11. From your computer desktop, select the compressed (.zip) version of your website files folder that you created from the previous section, and drop it into the DROP FILES HERE square

12. Click the Upload button

13. Let your file fully load and keep your page open here, do not click away. Depending on the size of your folder, this will take some time. Once the file has finished uploading, you will see it marked at 100% at the bottom right. Once you see the 100%, you can click the X button to close the file upload popup.

14. Now you will see your compressed (.zip) files folder in your public_html – right-click the folder and from the dropdown select Extract

15. On the Extract popup, click the Extract button

16. You will now see all of your website files inside the public_html folder

17. Now, find your website files .zip folder

18. Right-click on it, and select Remove from the dropdown

19. On the Remove Files popup, toggle OFF the To Trash toggle, and then click the Remove button

20. You have now successfully migrated your website files, move to the next section

D. Take note of your existing database name

1. Log in to your hosting control panel
2. Click on the File Manager button

3. Double-click on the domains folder

4. Locate your website’s folder and double-click on it

5. Double-click on the public_html folder

6. Locate the wp-config.php file and right-click on it

7. From the dropdown, select Edit

8. Locate the section called:

/** The name of the database for WordPress */

9. Right under this line, you will find the name of your database. In this example, the name of the database is skystrahelp_wp392

/** The name of the database for WordPress */ define( 'DB_NAME', 'skystrahelp_wp392' );

Here is an example of what the section looks like inside of a wp-config.php file:

10. Note down your database name somewhere safe or in your password manager as a secure note, you will need this in the next section. Once you’ve noted down your database name, move to the next section.

E. Export your website database from your old provider

In this section, we’re going to show you the general guidelines for exporting a database from phpMyAdmin – your old provider may use a different database software system, however most use phpMyAdmin so the steps will be nearly identical to those shown below.

1. Log in to your old provider’s hosting control panel
2. Go to your phpMyAdmin tool
3. When phpMyAdmin opens, your databases will be displayed on the left-hand side. If you have multiple databases, they will be listed one after another on this panel. Now, you need to find the database that is an exact match to the database name you found in the previous section. In our example, our database name is skystrahelp_wp392
4. Click directly on your database name

5. From the top, select the Export button

6. On the next page, make sure the format is set to SQL

7. Click the Export button

8. Your database will now download to your computer, normally this will be downloaded directly to your desktop and/or downloads folder, make sure to locate where it was downloaded on your computer.
9. You have now successfully exported your website database from your old provider, you can move to the next section

F. Create a new database shell and credentials at Skystra

1. Log in to your hosting control panel
2. If you have multiple domain names, click on your domain name next to the Domain: field to select your domain name

3. Click on the MySQL Databases button

4. Click the + Create New Database button

5. On the next page, type in your Database Name. This will automatically be your Database User – unless you uncheck the ticked box next to Same as the database name. In the password field, generate a new password and/or input your own. If generating one, click the dice ⚁ ⚁ on the left-hand side and the system will generate one for you. Then, click on the eye icon to the right 👁️ to reveal it

6. Note down your Database NameDatabase User, and Database Password somewhere safe or in your password manager as a secure note, you will need these details to connect your website files to your database.
7. Once noted down, click on the Create Database button

8. You will get a popup confirmation message once your database has been created. The popup will display your database credentials again, if you haven’t done so already, note these details down in a secure spot. Once noted, you can click the Close button.


9. You have now successfully created a new database shell, move to the next section

G. Migrate your website database to Skystra

1. Log in to your hosting control panel
2. Click on the phpMyAdmin button

3. When phpMyAdmin opens, your databases will be displayed on the left-hand side. If you have multiple databases, they will be listed one after another on this panel. Now, you need to find the name of the new database shell you created in the previous step in Section F. Once you find your new database shell, click on it.

4. Click the Import button from the main menu

5. Click on Choose File

6. Select your database file from your computer and click the Open button

7. Click the Import button from the bottom of the page

8. Allow the database migration to complete and do not click away from your screen. Once completed, you will see a green ribbon at the top with the Import has been successfully finished message.

9. You have now successfully migrated your website database, move to the next section

H. Connect your website database to your website files

1. Get your database shell credentials note you created during Section F above ready and in front of you for use
2. Log in to your hosting control panel
3. Click on the File Manager button

4. Double-click on the domains folder

5. Locate your website folder and double-click on it

6. Double-click on the public_html folder

7. Locate the wp-config.php file

8. Right-click on the wp-config.php file and select Edit from the dropdown


9. Locate the DB_NAME section and delete the old database name from between the single quotes ‘ ‘ and type in your new database name, do NOT delete the ‘ ‘

In our example, our old database name was skystrahelp_wp392 and the new one is skystrahelp_wp9832

/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define( 'DB_NAME', 'skystrahelp_wp9832' );

10. Locate the DB_USER section and delete the old database username from between the single quotes ‘ ‘ and type in your new database username, do NOT delete the ‘ ‘

In our example, our old database username was skystrahelp_wp392 and the new one is skystrahelp_wp9832

/** Database username */
define( 'DB_USER', 'skystrahelp_wp9832' );

11. Locate the DB_PASSWORD section and delete the old database password from between the single quotes ‘ ‘ and type in your new database password, do NOT delete the ‘ ‘

In our example, our old database password was S37.1Ak(mp[o and the new one is QaNewwx#mwk!GoH2

/** Database password */
define( 'DB_PASSWORD', 'QaNewwx#mwk!GoH2' );

12. Locate the DB_HOST section and make sure it says localhost between the single quotes ‘ ‘

/** Database hostname */
define( 'DB_HOST', 'localhost' );

Here is an example of changing these details within the wp-config.php file:

13. Do a double check and make sure you’ve put in all of your new database credentials correctly, including all special characters. If there is a mistake in your database credentials, your website will not work.
14. Once you’ve verified the database credentials are correct, click the Save File button
15. Now click the X button to close the editor
16. You have now successfully migrated your website, move to the next section

I. Run a check on your website on the Skystra hosting network

1. Open this guide: Use SkipDNS to test your website
2. Use the steps listed in that guide to run a check on your migrated website
3. Your website will load if the migration is done correctly and there are no incompatibility errors. If there are errors, they will be logged within your website error log, which you can then use to troubleshoot and fix up.
4. Once you’ve completed your website checks and/or required fixes, move to the next step

J. Perform any required email migration for your domain name

If you have email connected to the domain name of the website you are migrating, you will now need to perform any required email migration and/or email DNS implementation requirements at this stage.

If you have email connected to the domain name of the website you are migrating, go directly to: Email migration guidelines – once you have completed your email migration, return to this website migration guide and continue to the next section.

If you do not have any email connected to the domain name of the website you are migrating, you can skip this section entirely and go directly to the next section below.

K. Change your domain to Skystra nameservers and wait for the update

1. Log in to the customer portal for your domain name registrar provider
2. At your domain name registrar provider, update your domain name to the Skystra nameservers
3. Once you’ve updated to the Skystra nameservers, you will need to wait for the new nameservers and SSL certificate to update across the internet on your domain name. Depending on your internet connection, this can take anywhere from a few hours or up to 24 hours. We recommend waiting a full 24 hours. You can use the Skystra DNS tracker to monitor the update on your internet connection.
4. Once you’ve waited a full 24 hours, open your website on an incognito or private browser window to load a new session, you will see your website loading from our network. You can move to the next section.

L. Update your Skystra WordPress Manager

1. Go to your hosting control panel
2. Click on the WordPress Manager icon

3. On the WordPress Management page, click the Scan button

4. On the Import Installations page, click the Start scanning for installations button

5. Click the Return to WordPress Management button

6. Your migrated website domain name WordPress installation will now be listed

7. Please note, that you can log in to your website WordPress installation either through your WordPress Manager or by using the direct login credentials using your domain name wp-admin link, go here for details. You can move to the next section.

M. Transfer your domain name registration to Skystra (Optional)

At this point, your entire migration is completed. There is an optional and additional step if you’d like to consolidate all of your services from the old provider to Skystra, which is transferring your domain name registration.

For all domain name extension types (except for UK-based domain names) – a domain transfer will add one (1) year to your existing registration period automatically.

If you’d like to transfer your domain name to your Skystra portal, go here: Transfer your domain name to Skystra