Migrate WordPress to New Server

How To Migrate a WordPress instance to a New Server

Backup Site internally

(slice1)

sudo cp -Rf /var/www/www.example.com /home/username/sites

Backup MYSQL database

mysqldump -u root -p www_example_com > www_example_com.sql
sudo mv www_example_com.sql /home/username/sites

It is convenient to put everything into one directory so all files can be moved at once. I use /home/username/sites

Copy site and SQL file back to local machine

I use Rsync instead of FTP for security

copy site from server

(slice1)

sudo rsync -azv -e ssh username@slice1.example.com:/home/username/sites /home/username/sites/

copy site to server

(slice2)

sudo rsync -azv /home/username/sites -e ssh username@slice2.example.com:/home/username/sites/

Move Site Internally

(slice2)

sudo mv -Rf /home/username/sites /var/www/

Login to MySQL and create database www_example_com
Exit MySQL

Import Database

mysql -u root -p -D www_example_com < www_example_com.sql

Create Virtual Host

sudo vi /etc/apache2/sites-available/www.example.com

copy this code into the file

<VirtualHost *:80>
     ServerAdmin webmaster@example.com
     ServerName www.example.com
     ServerAlias www.example.com
     DocumentRoot /var/www/www.example.com/
</VirtualHost>
sudo a2ensite www.example.com
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

WordPress Migration Errors

If you see the error message

  • Upload folder is not writable. Export and file upload features will not be functional.

    • Immediately check (in wordpress) Settings > Media > Store uploads in this folder : the path to the folder may be different than on the prior server