Our support team can move packages from your Heart Internet hosting services to a Managed or Unmanaged Plesk VPS.
Once we’ve copied over your package data, we suggest that you spend some time checking that everything is in place before changing the DNS and loading content from your new server
What do I need to check?
Does the website load?
The most important thing to check would be whether the website loads. The best way to check this would be to use Plesk's Preview option. This will load the site using a different URL, and will make an attempt to overwrite content which should otherwise load from directly using the domain name. It will allow you to view the site as if the Managed VPS is serving the content. To use this method, go to:
- Plesk
- Domains
- yourdomain.com
- Preview
Alternatively, you can modify your computer's `hosts` file to allow you to view the website as if it were loading from the Managed VPS. This process varies slightly depending on your operating system:
Windows
Your hosts file can be found in: `C:\Windows\System 32\drivers\etc`. To open it, from the Start Menu find notepad.exe, right click it, and select ‘Run As Administrator’. From Notepad, go to:
- File
- Open
- Navigate to `C:\Windows\System 32\drivers\etc`
- Select `hosts`
Once open, you'll need to add a line which consists of your VPS' IP address, and your domain name, and it should look something like this:
12.34.56.78.91 yourdomain.com
12.34.56.78.91 www.yourdomain.com
With that saved, open your browser (a private session is better), and navigate to your website and navigate around. If the site works error free, you can move on.
Once you're done testing the website, you should remove those lines from your `hosts` file.
Linux/Mac
Your hosts file can be found in `/etc/hosts`. It can be edited using your devices text editor. To edit it, open your terminal and run:
sudo vim /etc/hosts
We used Vim, but you can use Nano, or even running a text editor with a graphical interface, just remember to run it as an administrator/super user. Once open, you'll need to add a line which consists of your VPS' IP address, and your domain name, and it should look something like this:
12.34.56.78.91 domain.com
12.34.56.78.91 www.yourdomain.com
With that saved, open your browser (a private session is better), and navigate to your website and navigate around. If the site works error free, you can move on.
It’s wise to remove the lines added to your hosts file before continuing, to prevent any issues diagnosing potential problems down the line.
Are your files all there?
We use RSYNC to copy over website files from one location to another. RSYNC will tell us if something didn’t copy, and we would ensure that it gets copied, but you should check to see if any files of large size of quantities are missing.
To do this in Plesk, go to:
- Domains
- yourdomain.com
- File Manager
For website content to be visible when your site is loaded, files will need to be placed into the `httpdocs` directory. If your files are still a directory called `public_html`, then you’ll want to move these to the `httpdocs` directory.
Are your databases present?
Databases which are copied over to VPS' should retain the same, or similar name and password. The structure and contents is exported as a .SQL file and re-imported. Although this process is simple, it's still advised that you open your databases and check that the structure is the same, and go into several tables to ensure data is present.
To do this in Plesk, go to:
- Domains
- yourdomain.com
- Databases
- your database
- phpMyAdmin
Are your mailboxes present?
We will duplicate any mailbox/forwarder that exists on your hosting onto your VPS, then we use IMAPSYNC to copy the folders and emails to the VPS. We get warned of any errors so we can address them, but it’s important that you log into your mailboxes and ensure that data exists.
Have your SSL’s been installed?
SSL certificates would have been copied over and installed onto your server. These may need assigning to the domain name though.
To do this, go to:
- Domains
- yourdomain.com
- Hosting Settings
- Security
- Choose your SSL from the menu.
If you want to install a Let’s Encrypt SSL, you can do this by going to:
- Domains
- yourdomain.com
- Let’s Encrypt
Your domain name does need to point to the VPS to allow an SSL to be issued.
Everything looks okay, now what?
If you’re satisfied that we’ve moved everything over, then you can go ahead and change your DNS. The easiest way to do this is via our Express DNS Wizard within your Heart Internet control panel.
From your Heart Internet Customer Area, go to:
- Manage VPS and Hybrid Servers
- Your VPS
- IP & DNS
- Launch Express DNS Wizard
Within the wizard, select the domain name, and then the IP address (you’ll likely only have one), then then you can choose which records to change. If the domain is not using our servers to provide it’s mail, don’t select the MX records. Any other subdomains pointing to external IP address should remain the same.
What if content is missing, or I can’t change the DNS right away?
We can re-migrate your data at any point as long as the original copied remain on our shared hosting servers. Just update your initial migration ticket or open a new one and let us know what you need migrating. Databases and mailboxes can be re-synced at any time after the initial migration, but additional re-sync attempts may cost.