Frequently Asked Questions

What is Website Migration?

If your Website is experiencing repeated downtime or slow load time, it is a clear indication that you need to change your host provider and move to a more reliable server to ensure these issues are resolved. Moving your Website to a new server is called Website Migration.

Is there ‘Best Practice’ for Website Migration?

Absolutely! Moving to a new host comes with various challenges, and you must know how to do it correctly and avoid mistakes that most Administrators make when moving a Website from one CMS to another.

Ensuring a seamless transition to a new host requires extensive planning and time. Naturally, Website owners will always ask how much the cost of site Migration is when they are told it’s an extensive process. Therefore, a lot of business owners opt for DIY solutions for Website Migration. This option always comes with consequences, which are usually long down time and more cost trying to fix mistakes made during the Migration. Therefore, Best Practice is to choose an experienced new host provider who will lead you through the process to ensure the desired Migration results.

What is the estimated cost of Website Migration?

Website Migration is an extensive project because it requires in-depth knowledge of IT. Because of the time involved and the skills you need to move a Website, it becomes hard to estimate the cost of migrating the Website. In short, the more intricate your Website (eCommerce plugins etc), the longer it will take to Migrate. A Web Developer or Project Manager may find it difficult to estimate the cost of migrating a client’s Website. WebOracle has developed an industry leading, all inclusive IT & Digital Solutions package named Sick of the Sh#t Tech Solution Package. This package includes your Website Migration cost in the fixed monthly fee, in addition to a large number of other services. Our Sick of the Sh#t Tech Solution Package was developed on the back of independent market research to ensure it delivers what small businesses need and want from their IT provider, and is a fixed monthly fee. This ensures you will never have a surprise cost if you do need assistance. How did we get the name? Well, because more often than not, we get frustrated Clients calling us to say they are ‘so sick of the IT sh!t and need help!’ Leave it with us – we actually love the technical side of things and love making your life easier. Contact the team at WebOracle for more information.

How long does website migration take?

How long it takes to migrate a Website from one host or server to another depends on many variables. An obvious one is the type of host you want to migrate to.
This article highlights some essential items that can reduce or determine the time it takes to migrate a Website to help you better understand the migration process, and manage your project timelines and expectations.

1. Size of Organisation

If you have a large organization with over 100 employees, you will have to have a very considered approach to migrating your Website to a new host. You’ll need to ensure every department affected by the proposed migration is aware of the project, and also ensure you have adequate internal meetings so the full project team understands the migration process and their role in it.

You are likely to encounter a messy IT landscape if you don’t involve everyone in the migration process. It takes a lot of time to prepare everyone in a large organisation for the migration.

2. Outdated Software

Sometimes Website migration may take an extended period if it is not using the latest software for migration. If you haven’t updated your Website for some years, it could be using outdated software not compatible with the new host. This will add a lot of time during the migration.

3. Amount of Data

The amount of data you need to copy and back-up before migrating the Website to a new host will also determine the time it takes. Sometimes it may not necessarily be the size of files, but the disorganised storage on your existing server.

For example, the Website can be showing a single webpage you should migrate, but when you login to the server, there are over four duplicate web pages that you should move. This makes it a more complicated and time intensive to determine the Website migration time.

4. Website Speed

How fast your Website connects to the Internet will also determine the time it takes to download all essential files for backup and migrate at last.

If you have a slow Website, it will take some significant time before you fully migrate to a new host or CMS. Therefore, when migrating, the bottleneck is your Website’s loading speed and source server from where you are loading the data.

5. Variation in Templates

The variations in templates from the current host to the new host will also determine the time it takes to migrate your Website. If you have more templates for the Website, you may need some mapping and gap analysis, which consumes a lot of time.

Contact the team at WebOracle for more information.

How do I Migrate a Website?

Migrating your Website to another host can come with lots of challenges. If you want to do the Migration yourself, WebOracle recommends you follow these five steps to make the Migration hassle-free and reduce the downtime.

**Step 1 – Cancel your current hosting plan after Migrating to your new host**

If you want to Migrate your current Website to a new host, you should move the site first and cancel the hosting plan when you are done. Only contact your current Website host and let them know of your intention to Migrate after migrating. Informing the host before starting Migration can result in downtime and loss of essential data once the host removes your site from their servers. Therefore, you should transfer all your important files that the old company holds to the new server before making that call.

Step 2 – Download all essential backup files

When moving your Website to another host, the most crucial step is locating the backup page and downloading all the essential backup files on the site. You can identify the c-Panel interface on your site and trace all the backup tools in the public Html folder. Once you identify the ‘Download Backups’ option in the control panel, you can click the right administration page and proceed to download all useful files. If you want to keep all the data you download, ensure you don’t decompress any of the backup files. The new server can complete the entire process when users upload their details.

Step 3- Make the final transfer

Once you’ve checked the location of all downloadable files and back them up appropriately, you can now proceed to make the final site transfer. Your new hosting company will normally provide a domain name, IP address, and other useful information once you’ve paid your first monthly subscription. Use the IP address to access the site FTP account and view the Website content before making any crucial changes on the Website.

Step 4- Confirm if the database if running

The next step is to ensure the database is working appropriately. That means you should confirm if the database has backed up all the crucial information like permissions associated with MySQL, passwords, and usernames. You can use the host’s IP address to log in to the FTP account and make all the necessary edits.

Step 5- Nameserver switch

The last step in Website Migration is to instruct your domain name to show data and essential files on a different server. This is done by logging to the registration c-Panel and replacing the new name servers. You can get your new name server from the host email sent to you. When all this is done, your site will be running smoothly, and all users can now find you online. Contact the team at WebOracle for more information.

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