Move your website to FiniteHost

Moving a website from another host takes four steps: take a copy of the files and the database at the old host, put them on FiniteHost, check the site, and point your domain here. Your old site keeps running the whole time, so visitors see no gap.

If you would rather not do this yourself, you can ask our support team for help (see the end of this guide).

Before you start#

• A FiniteHost web hosting plan with the website added: see Add a website. Do not change your domain's DNS yet.
• Access to your old host's control panel, or its SFTP or FTP.
• About the same disk space and database size on your FiniteHost plan as the site uses today. See Plan limits.

Step 1: Take a copy at your old host#

1. Download the website files. Use your old host's file manager or an FTP or SFTP app to download everything in the site's web folder (often called public_html, www or htdocs). Many hosts can pack the folder into a .zip for you, which is much faster to move.
2. Export the database, if the site has one. Most hosts have an export button in their database tool; save the database as an .sql or .sql.gz file.
3. Note the old database settings. Open the site's configuration file (for WordPress, wp-config.php) and note which settings it uses, so you know what to change later.

Step 2: Put the files on FiniteHost#

Choose one way:

• File manager (easiest): in the panel, open File manager, go to sites/<your domain>/public and Upload your .zip (up to 20 MB). Say yes when asked to unzip it. See Use the File manager.
• SFTP (for bigger sites): connect with an SFTP app and upload the files into /sites/<your domain>/public. See Connect with SFTP.

Make sure the home page file (index.php or index.html) ends up directly inside public, not inside an extra sub-folder.

Step 3: Bring over the database#

1. Create a database. Under Databases, create a new one and copy its name, user and password. The password is shown only once. See Create and connect to a database.
2. Import the file with phpMyAdmin. Sign in at https://db.finitehost.site with the new database's user name and password, open the Import tab and choose your .sql file. See Manage a database with phpMyAdmin.
3. Update the site's settings. In the site's configuration file, put the new database name, user and password, and set the database host to localhost. For WordPress, these are the DB_NAME, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD and DB_HOST lines in wp-config.php. You can edit the file in the File manager.

For very large databases, see Import and export a database.

Step 4: Check the site, then point your domain#

1. Check the site on its preview address. Every website has one, shown in its row on the Websites page. See Redirects and alias domains. WordPress sites redirect to their own address, so check those after the next step.
2. Point your domain to FiniteHost. Add the DNS records the panel shows at your domain registrar: see Connect your domain. HTTPS starts by itself a few minutes after the records point here.
3. Check the live site on your domain: open a few pages, submit a form, and log in to the admin area if there is one.
4. Move your email too, if it was at the old host. Read Move your email to FiniteHost before you change the MX record.

Ask support for help#

If you get stuck, or would like us to help with the move, open a support ticket with the topic Websites, hosting and SSL. Tell us the domain, where the site is hosted now and what kind of site it is (for example WordPress). Never put a password in a ticket; we will tell you how to share access safely.

Troubleshooting#

• "Error establishing a database connection": the database name, user or password in the configuration file does not match the new database. The name and user both start with your subscription ID.
• 403 Forbidden: the home page file is not directly inside public. Move the files up one level.
• The site still shows the old host: your domain's DNS still points there, or the change has not spread yet. See Check your DNS.
• Redirect rules from .htaccess do not work: FiniteHost does not read .htaccess. Set them up under Redirects and alias domains.

What's next#

• Connect your domain
• Move your email to FiniteHost
• Backups and restore