Switching Hosts
Part of the GoodHost Knowledge Centre.
Changing hosts feels riskier than it is, right up until somebody rushes the nameserver change and the site spends a working day offline. The mechanics themselves are not complicated: files, a database, some DNS records and a certificate. Sequencing is where it goes wrong, and sequencing is the part people skip when they are keen to get off a host that has annoyed them.
A website migration service exists to take that sequencing off your desk. Someone copies the files and database across, stands the site up on a temporary address so you can click through it before anything public changes, fixes whatever broke in transit, and only then points the domain at the new server. Done in that order, visitors generally see nothing happen at all.
The guides here cover both routes, handing it over and doing it yourself. Still deciding whether to move? The questions worth asking a prospective host is the honest starting point. Already decided? The pre-move checklist is what to work through before you touch anything, and the nameserver guide explains what breaks when the final step is rushed.
What does a website migration service actually cover?
Copying the files and databases, recreating mailboxes if email is moving too, reissuing the SSL certificate on the new server, testing the site on a temporary URL, then cutting the domain across and watching for errors. What it does not cover is redesigning anything or repairing problems the site already had.
When is the right time to change hosts?
When the current plan is genuinely the bottleneck, when support has stopped answering, when the renewal price has drifted well past what the plan is worth, or when your customers are in Australia and your server is not. Moving purely to save a few dollars a month rarely repays the effort involved.
What usually goes wrong when people move a site themselves?
Email gets forgotten, so mail stops the instant nameservers change. A scheduled task or cron job is missed. Files are copied but the database is not. The old account is cancelled before the new one has proved itself. Or nameservers are changed while a long TTL is still cached everywhere.
What a move involves at GoodHost, and how the site gets previewed before anything public changes, is set out on the migrations page. Worth reading that before you cancel anything with your current provider, since keeping the old account alive for a fortnight afterwards costs little and saves a great deal if something was missed. The Knowledge Centre covers hosting, domains, WordPress, email and security if you want the background first.