How to transfer your site without having downtime - FTP/cPanel Focused

Switch your web hosting without having your web site go down

1. Sign up for any web hosting package before cancelling your old web hosting account.

2. Download your entire old web site using a FTP program, or using cPanel backup utility. Then upload your entire web site to your new web hosting account by FTP or using cPanel backup utility again. If you are using FTP, you will need to re-chmod your folders if you are running scripts.

3. After you have moved all your files to your new account, you need to change your domain name's name servers. Make sure everything is working by using a temporary address at your new hopefully great web host before you update your nameservers. Then go to where you registered your domain name or email them directly. Update your name servers to the NEW name servers your new host emailed you when you signed up.

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4. After 24-72 hours your domain will be fully propegated and pointing to your new web hosting home.

5. You can now cancel your old web hosting and your web site should be fully up and running on your new account.

And that's it, after those 5 steps, your site is fully up and running with no downtime experienced at all. In all cases it's great to backup, cPanel has a great tool to allow it.

Mr.friend27

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I've found that the best way is to upload the new site on the server before point the domain. After I've pointed the DNS to the new nameservers, it works without updation and with update.

True, that is the best way, but please don't do it like me, here is what i did:
- i signed up for google adwords advertisement worth 200$ for a new forum.
- i just feel like it's going to go bad with my current server, the bandwidth limit is low!
- i sign up for a vps account
- i move my website+forum
- i update nameservers but it normally takes 24 hours to change
- my google adsense gets online on my OLD site!
- you can guess what appens! i get 100 members, my old account gets deleted because i used to many resources.

Talk about bad luck!

You can always use backup utility on your control panel but you have to change the nameserver (it generally takes 12/24 hours).
I don't know but when I update my nameservers it takes about 5/6 hours to change

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Thanks for so detailed instracture.

I definitely agree with this poster. That's exactly what I do, and it has never failed!

Most registrars (or at least the ones I've worked with- domainsite.. name... godaddy... maxiredhosting..) don't take more than ten minutes to point to the new nameservers, so that's HARDLY any downtime.
It's simple, too.
Like, when you get a hosting account, you also get the numbery version (sorry at the stupid names) of the cpanel/ ftp etc.

So you login to ftp/cpanel with that info.