Moving your website to a new VPS can feel daunting, especially when you’re worried about downtime, broken links, or losing data. At Hosteons, we’ve helped thousands of users migrate smoothly—often without their visitors even noticing the switch.
In this post, we’ll walk you through how to migrate your website to a new VPS step-by-step while keeping everything live.
✅ Step 1: Prepare Your New VPS
Before anything else:
- Deploy your new VPS from Hosteons or Premium Ryzen VDS
- Install necessary software: web server (Apache/Nginx), database (MySQL/MariaDB), PHP, and other required dependencies
- Ensure firewall and security settings are configured
✅ Step 2: Backup Your Website
On your current server:
- Use tools like rsync, scp, or control panel backups (e.g. cPanel/DirectAdmin)
- Export your database using mysqldump or phpMyAdmin
- Compress your website files and download them safely
✅ Step 3: Transfer Files and Database to New VPS
- Upload your files using rsync, scp, or FTP/SFTP
- Import the database to your new VPS using mysql or phpMyAdmin
- Recheck file permissions and ownership
✅ Step 4: Test the Website on the New Server
- Modify your local hosts file to point the domain to the new server IP
- Access the site via browser and ensure everything functions (no broken links, database errors, or missing files)
✅ Step 5: Sync Latest Changes (Optional)
If your site is dynamic (blog, e-commerce, etc.), you may need to:
- Re-export the database just before the final switch
- Re-transfer updated files (images, new posts, etc.)
- Place the site in “maintenance mode” briefly if needed
✅ Step 6: Update DNS Records
- Change your domain’s A record to the new VPS IP
- TTL (Time to Live) should be set low (e.g. 300 seconds) a day before migration to allow faster DNS propagation
✅ Step 7: Monitor and Go Live
- Monitor the site post-migration
- Check logs (/var/log/nginx/error.log or Apache equivalents)
- Use tools like uptimerobot.com or statuscake.com to verify uptime
🔒 Bonus Tip: Use a CDN to Smooth the Transition
A CDN like Cloudflare caches your content and helps reduce DNS propagation-related issues. It can even act as a reverse proxy to switch servers behind the scenes.
Why Choose Hosteons for Your Next VPS?
- 🌍 Global server locations (US, EU)
- 💸 Flexible payments: Credit cards, PayPal, Crypto, Alipay, UPI, and more!
- 🚀 99.99% uptime
- 🧑💻 Fast support, no KYC for crypto or local payments
- 📦 Explore VPS Plans
Still unsure or need help with the migration?
📩 Open a support ticket at https://my.hosteons.com — our team is here to guide you!