Moving a website from the eXtend Control Panel to cPanel Web Hosting

If you have purchased a cPanel Web Hosting account and you wish to move your website from a resold shared hosting account, or a hosting account using our eXtend Control Panel, then you can follow the steps outlined in this guide.

There is no facility in place at the moment to automatically move packages between the two different platforms.

You are responsible for taking backups of your website. This documentation is offered as a guide only.

The process of moving your website will be broken down into 5 steps, and will not include moving mailboxes. These steps are:

1)     Downloading your website files
2)     Exporting MySQL Databases
3)     Moving the domain name (if required)
4)     Re-Uploading your website files
5)     Creating and importing your MySQL databases

Before we begin – Mailboxes

Mailboxes are not covered by this article, and part of this article may include a step which will delete mailboxes, if hosting is moved between two accounts.

Emails are best backed up using a desktop mail client.

Step 1 – Downloading your website files

Access the eXtend Control Panel for the package you wish to move.

If you are a reseller, log in as the superuser from the Reseller Control Centre.
Unlock the FTP account (you should select 4 hours)
Connect to your website by FTP and download the contents of the public_html directory.

It’s best to create a folder somewhere on your computer to keep these files, even after you’ve moved your website for safekeeping.

You may need to download other files, outside of the public_html directory, if you’re not sure, ask the your webmaster or developer.

If you need help connecting via FTP, click here.

Step 2 – Exporting MySQL Databases

In the eXtend Control Panel, scroll down the Web Tools heading and select MariaDB Databases.
Make a note of the database names and passwords, doing this now will make the process of moving the website much easier.
Select Manage next to your database to be directed to phpMyAdmin.
Select the database from the list on the left.
Select the Export tab along the top of the page.
Leave the settings on the page as they are, and select Go.

If your website has multiple databases, repeat these steps. If you have a list of databases, and aren’t sure which to download, you should download them all, if you can, check your websites configuration file to see which you need to download.

Step 3 – Moving the domain name

If your cPanel package is in the same account as the package you’re moving, you can skip this step.

However, if you are moving this manually to another account, then the domain name will need moving, or the reference will need changing.

Go to the Reseller Control Centre
Select Domain References
Under the Add a new Domain Reference heading, add a referenced domain which can be used to ‘rename’ the package:

ref-[yourdomainname.com]
Go back to the Reseller Control Centre and select Domain Mappings
Assign the new ‘referenced’ domain to the domain you wish to move.
Set the ‘referenced’ domain as primary using the radio check box, and select Update Mappings.
Once the ‘referenced’ domain has been assigned as the primary domain, select Delete Mapping to remove the domain you will be moving from the package.

Doing this will delete any mailboxes using this domain, don’t proceed if you have not backed up your mailboxes.
Go back to your Customer Area and select Manage Domain Names, and select the domain you are moving from the Manage Domain Parking dropdown, then select Manage.
Select Inter-Customer Transfer, and enter the email address of the account the domain is being moved to.

From this point, any action taken to complete the move will need to take place in the receiving account.

The transfer of the domain will need to be accepted by the receiving account, they will be prompted once they log into their account.

Step 4 – Re-Uploading your website files

Before you upload your files, you will need to assign your domain to the cPanel package, if this has not been done already.

From your Heart Internet Customer Area, go to the Manage Products heading, and select Manage cPanel Hosting.
Select Login next to on the row of the package you wish to use.
If this is your first time using this package, you will be prompted to enter a new domain:

3.1. Enter your domain, select Update
3.2. Select Europe as the data center
3.3. Select Not now, thanks when prompted to set up WordPress
Once the account has been provisioned, select Change next to the Password field on the Settings sidebar and enter a new master password.

Copy your cPanel Login, and the IP Address from the Server tab. These will be your master FTP login details.
Connect via your FTP client using the details you have just obtained, and enter the public_html directory.

You can remove the 404.shtml, home.shtml, layout-styles.css files.
Upload your files into the public_html directory.

Step 5 - Creating and importing your MySQL databases

Creating your database and users:

From your Heart Internet Customer Area, go to the Manage Products heading, and select Manage cPanel Hosting.
Select Login next to on the row of the package you wish to use.
Select cPanel Admin to access the cPanel Control Panel.
Scroll down to the Databases heading and select MySQL Databases.
Under the Create New Database heading, enter the name of the database you are re-creating from step 2.2 and select Create Database, then select Go Back on the confirmation page.
Under the MySQL Users heading enter the username and password of the database and select Create User, then select Go Back on the confirmation page.

The username in most cases will be the same as your database name, and the password should be the same as the earlier exported one, to save time.
Scroll down the Add User To Database heading, and make sure your user and database are selected in the dropdown menus, and select Add.
On the Manage User Privileges page check the ALL PRIVILLAGES option and select Make Changes.

Importing your database:

Click on the cPanel logo at the top of the page to go the cPanel Dashboard.
Scroll down to the Databases heading and select phpMyAdmin.
Select your database from the sidebar on the left.
Select the Import tab along the top of the page.
Choose your database dump (the .SQL file) to import under the File to import heading, and leave the remaining settings as they are.
Select Go.