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WordPress Migration

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BackupBuddy is a WordPress backup plugin, but it’s also a WordPress migration plugin. With BackupBuddy, you can easily migrate your entire WordPress site to a new host or new URL or domain.

WordPress Migration Made Easy with BackupBuddy

If you’ve ever needed to move a WordPress site to a new host or new URL or domain, you may not know where to start. BackupBuddy allows you to make a complete backup of the WordPress site, download the zip file of the site and then move the WordPress site to a different host or domain using the ImportBuddy script. BackupBuddy handles migrating the entire site, including all themes, plugins, content, styles and widgets.

Examples of WordPress Migrations include:

  • Moving an existing WordPress site to a different URL
  • Moving an existing WordPress site from one host to another host
  • Moving a WordPress site from a local or development environment to a live site

To perform a WordPress migration with BackupBuddy, you’ll need the following:

  • The BackupBuddy plugin installed on the actual WordPress site you wish to migrate or move
  • A complete backup of the site (download the zip file after performing the backup with BackupBuddy)
  • The ImportBuddy script (download from within the BackupBuddy > Restore/Migrate page or from iThemes Sync)
  • An FTP client with FTP access to your hosting account (so you can upload the backup zip file and the ImportBuddy script to the new destination directory)
  • A new database along with administrator user credentials to the database (you’ll input this information during Step 3 of the ImportBuddy process).

Move a WordPress Site to New URL or Domain

wordpress migration

If you need to change the domain name of your WordPress site, BackupBuddy has you covered.

The general WordPress migration method is:

  1. Run a complete backup with BackupBuddy and download the backup zip file.
  2. Download the ImportBuddy.php script from within BackupBuddy or from iThemes Sync.
  3. Change nameservers if necessary
  4. Remove the previous WordPress installation from the destination site if there is one already there
  5. Either create a new database that has an associated user with all privileges (the old destination database will still be there, just not pointed to currently)—OR—wipe the old destination database to re-use it for the migration (Advanced Configuration Options has an option in step 3 to wipe database on import to help if going this route)
  6. Upload the backup and importbuddy.php file to the web root of the site
  7. Run importbuddy.php by navigating to it in your web browser (such as www.yoursite.com/importbuddy.php or www.yoursite.com/subdirectory/importbuddy.php or wherever it got uploaded to)
  8. Follow the importbuddy steps to complete the WordPress migration.

For complete instructions on moving your WordPress site to a new URL, visit the BackupBuddy: Manual Migration documentation.

Move a WordPress Site to New Host

If you need to change hosts for your WordPress site, BackupBuddy makes it easy.

The general WordPress migration method is:

  1. Run a complete backup with BackupBuddy and download the backup zip file.
  2. Download the ImportBuddy.php script from within BackupBuddy or from iThemes Sync.
  3. Remove any WordPress installations from the destination location if there is one already there.
  4. Create a new database that has an associated user with all privileges
  5. Using an FTP client, upload the backup zip file and the importbuddy.php script file to the web root of the new host location
  6. Run the importbuddy.php script by navigating to it in your web browser (such as www.yoursite.com/importbuddy.php or www.yoursite.com/subdirectory/importbuddy.php, depending on where you uploaded the importbuddy script)
  7. Follow the importbuddy steps to complete the WordPress migration.

For complete instructions on moving your WordPress site to a new host, visit the BackupBuddy: Manual Migration documentation.

Staging & Development Sites with BackupBuddy Deployment

move-wordpress-development-site

BackupBuddy’s Deployment feature also makes WordPress staging and development sites easy. Deployment is a popular feature for WordPress developers who build a custom site for a client on a temporary domain or locally (like a sandbox or playground site) and then want to move (or migrate) the entire site with themes, plugins, content, styles and widgets over to a live client domain.

With Deployment, you can set up a WordPress staging site and connect it with your existing site using BackupBuddy so you can push or pull changes in as few as two clicks.

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