BackupBuddy makes moving an entire WordPress site to another server easy. In the same way, a BackupBuddy Full Backups can be used to restore a site, the ImportBuddy file can be used to migrate your entire site to another hosting server.
BackupBuddy Complete (Full) Backups are especially critical when changing hosts. With a BackupBuddy Full Backup, you don’t have to worry about relying on your previous host to help with the move. Many hosts or other tools skip key parts of the migration process (such as migrating serialized data), resulting in a damaged migration.
A BackupBuddy Manual Migration involves manually uploading the ImportBuddy script and a Complete (Full) Backup to a destination server.
Note: When migrating a site with BackupBuddy, make sure the destination of the migration is "clean." There should be no WordPress files at the new location.
Steps for Migrating Your Site
- Create a Backup
- Locating and Reteiving ImportBuddy
- Adding Files to Your New Location
- Using (s)FTP
- Stash
- Upload
- ImportBuddy Steps
- Authentication Required & Choose Your Backup File
- Unzipping Backup File
- URL and Database Settings
- Database Import
- Database Migration
- Final Cleanup
Step 1 - Create a Backup
In BackupBuddy > Backups, click the button "Create Backup" and then create a Complete Backup or download a backup you've created previously.
Once your backup has completed, you will see a couple options for your backup file. You can either go back to your backups page, download the backup file or send it to a remote destination.
If you chose to go back to your backups page, when you click the Hamburger menu or the three circles, you will find the options to either download the backup or send it to a remote destination.
If you want to download the file from the final backup page, you'll simply click the Download button.
If you opt to send the file to a remote destination you can send it to a destination you've previously created.
Or you can create a new destination to send it to, including an FTP or sFTP location.
Step 2 - Locating and Retreiving ImportBuddy
Once you've completed and downloaded or sent your backup to a destination, you'll need to do the same with a copy of the importbuddy.php file.
You'll find ImportBuddy in BackupBuddy > Backups. Just click the blue ImportBuddy dropdown and you can either download the file or send it to a remote destination.
Step 3 - Adding files to your new location
Note: If you sent your backup and importbuddy.php files to a remote destination in the previous steps, you can skip Step 3.
Option 1 - Using (s)FTP -
Once you have both your backup and importbuddy.php files, you'll need to upload them to the new location.
First, you'll need to upload it to the FTP directory to migrate or restore the backup that corresponds to the web URL for your site's destination. For example, if you want your new site's URL to be http://your.com/mybuddy/ then your server directory MIGHT be something like this: /user/username/public_html/mybuddy/
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Note: The directory structure varies host to host but often follows a similar format.
Once you've decided on the FTP directory, you will then upload the backup file (do not rename the zip file) and a copy of your importbuddy.php file to your chosen directory via FTP.
Once you've uploaded the ImportBuddy file to your new location, you'll go to ImportBuddy's location in your browser where you'll enter your ImportBuddy password. For example: mysite.com/importbuddy.php
You'll then see three tabs - Server, Upload and Stash. Under Server, you'll be able to select from any backup files you've uploaded to that location on your server.
Option 2 - Using Stash -
If you've sent your backup file to your Stash storage, you will still need to upload your importbuddy.php file to the new site location through FTP or you send it to the new location through your dashboard (BackupBuddy > Restore/Migrate).
If you use FTP, you'll need to upload it to the FTP directory to migrate or restore the backup that corresponds to the web URL for your site's destination. For example, if you want your new site's URL to be http://your.com/mybuddy/ then your server directory MIGHT be something like this: /user/username/public_html/mybuddy/
Once you've uploaded the ImportBuddy file to your new location, you'll go to ImportBuddy's location in your browser where you'll enter your ImportBuddy password. For example: mysite.com/importbuddy.php
Once you've entered your password, you'll select the Stash tab where you'll need to log into your Stash account so you can retrieve your backup file.
Once you've logged into Stash, you'll be able to select from your backup files stored there to use for your migration/restore.
Option 3 - Using ImportBuddy -
You'll first upload importbuddy.php to the new location of your site. You'll need to upload it to the FTP directory to migrate or restore the backup that corresponds to the web URL for your site's destination. For example, if you want your new site's URL to be http://your.com/mybuddy/ then your server directory MIGHT be something like this: /user/username/public_html/mybuddy/
Once you've uploaded the ImportBuddy file to your new location, you'll go to ImportBuddy's location in your browser where you'll enter your ImportBuddy password. For example: mysite.com/importbuddy.php
You'll then see three tabs - Server, Upload and Stash. Select Upload and you can upload your backup file.
ImportBuddy Steps
There are 6 ImportBuddy steps to go through for a successful migration/restoration. You've actually already covered the first step by entering your password and selecting your backup file.
Step 1 - Authentication Required & Choose Your Backup File
You'll be prompted to Enter your ImportBuddy password to continue. For more information about setting your ImportBuddy password, visit the ImportBuddy Password page.
Step 1 also prompts you to choose your backup file for the migration. These file options are divided into three tabs: Server, Upload and Stash.
Note: During Step 1 you'll find Advanced Options. Select any optional advanced options if needed or directed by technical support.
Once you've selected your Advanced Options or if you do not need to select any of these options, click Next Step.
Step 2 - Unzipping Backup File
This step unzips the backup file. There is nothing you need to do for this step. Just select Next Step once the extraction has completed
Step 3 - URL and Database Settings
This is where you will enter the database settings for the new location.
Enter the following URL settings:
WordPress Address - This is the address where you want the final WordPress site you are restoring/migrating to reside. Ex: http://foo.com/wp
Use optional custom site address (Home URL)? - OPTIONAL. This is also known as the site address. This is the home address where your main site resides. This may differ from your WordPress URL. For example: http://foo.com
Enter the following Database Settings:
These settings control where your backed up database will be restored to. If you are restoring to the same server, the settings below will import the database to your existing WordPress database location, overwriting your existing WordPress database already on the server. If you are moving to a new host you will need to create a database to import into. The database settings MUST be unique for each WordPress installation. If you use the same settings for multiple WordPress installations then all blog content and settings will be shared, causing conflicts!
MySQL Server - This is the address to the mySQL server where your database will be stored. 99% of the time this is localhost. The location of your mySQL server will be provided to you by your host if it differs.
Database Name - This is the name of the database you want to import your blog into. The database user must have permissions to be able to access this database. If you are migrating this blog to a new host you will need to create this database (ie using CPanel or PHPMyAdmin) and create a MySQL database user with permissions.
Database User - This is the database user account that has permission to access the database name in the input above. This user must be given permission to this database for the import to work.
Database Password - This is the password for the database user.
Database Prefix - This is the prefix given to all tables in the database. If you are cloning the site on the same server AND the same database name then you will want to change this or else the imported database will overwrite the existing tables.
If you haven't set up a database for the new location, but have access to cPanel for the new site, you can create your new database through cPanel in ImportBuddy's Step 3. To create your database, click the Have cPanel? Click to create a database button.
In the window that opens, you can automatically create a database along with a new database user with permissions. Fill out the required information and then click Next Step.
Step 4 - Database Import
Step 4 imports the database information into the database of your new site. Once the import is completed, it will take you to Step 5.
Step 5 - Database Migration
This step updates all of the URLs, paths, etc. on your site to match your new site.
Before you move to the final step, be sure to go to your new site and check all of your links to ensure they have changed. You may view your entire import log for providing to support by clicking the View Import Log button.
Once you've tested your new site, you can move to the final step by clicking Clean up & remove temporary files.
Step 6 - Final Cleanup
Step 6 removes any temporary files from your new site that were used for the migration. Your site will then be ready at the URL indicated on that page. Once you have confirmed everything is in order, click Finish Cleanup.
