How Hard Is It Really To Migrate From Shared Hosting To VPS?
A Virtual Private Server (VPS) is a common next step for shared hosting users who are looking to upgrade their website hosting. VPS offers superior performance when compared to the limited shared resources of shared hosting, and also comes at a cheaper price than a dedicated server. When looking to make the step to VPS, you may be concerned about the difficulty of migrating your existing data from your shared hosting to your VPS. Unfortunately, there’s no simple answer to this question. The difficulty around migrating entirely depends on the type and how much data you are moving. This article covers a variety of scenarios that you may find yourself in to help you decide if migrating is the right choice for you.
Migrating with a control panel:
The first and often situation is if your shared web host is using a control panel to manage their servers. Many hosts use control panel software such as cPanel, Plesk and Virtualmin to manage their shared hosting servers. Control panels make migration much simpler for you because they usually offer easy backup and restore functionality for hosted sites.
When setting up your VPS, install the control panel you used for shared web hosting and pull a backup from your shared web host to use the restore functionality on your VPS to configure and install your website data. Depending on the control panel, you may need to update your website configuration to use the IP address of your VPS. From this point, your migration is a fairly simple process, and after you have completed the install you can update your DNS entries to point to your VPS.
Unique or no control panel:
The second scenario is when your shared web host uses either their own or no control panel. Alternatively, they may be using one of the previously mentioned control panels, but you don’t want to continue using the control panel for your VPS. In this case, you’ll need to take a backup of your website including all website files and databases in use. You will also need to recreate the configuration for your website and any databases on your new VPS.
Once you have finished configuration, you can add your website files to your website directory on the server. Next, you can import the database data. The method used to add your data will vary depending on your control panel. Options include whether or not you are using a control panel, the control panel you choose, or if you are configuring the server manually. If you are using website software such as WordPress, Joomla! or similar software, you may find that you need additional tools like Apache or PHP. These tools are often installed by default on shared servers. However, they will need manual installation on your new VPS server. Read the original setup guide for your software to ensure that you have the server requirements before you attempt an install. Otherwise, you may find yourself handling a lot of errors.
VPS.NET lends a helping hand:
If the migration process sounds a bit too difficult, there is no need to worry. With Managed Support services from VPS.NET, our skilled support team can help you configure your server, get organized and prepare your migration. Managed Support makes VPS migration simple and stress-free. The migration process from an existing shared host can often be one of the biggest concerns preventing users from moving on to a VPS. However, migration can be a relatively straightforward process if you take care and plan accordingly.