Slot 09 Website and server moves Service
Your sites, databases and email, moved without downtime
I move hosting accounts between cPanel, DirectAdmin and Plesk, and to and from platforms like Cloudways and RunCloud. Email comes with you, which is the part most moves get wrong.
Slot 38 Compatibility Any direction
What I move, and where to
Panel to panel, panel to platform, platform back to your own server. Same job either way.
- cPanel / WHM
- DirectAdmin
- Plesk
- Cloudways
- RunCloud
- ServerPilot
- GridPane
- Plain VPS
- Whole servers, or one account at a time
- WordPress moves, single site or several hundred
- Onto managed platforms like Cloudways, RunCloud, ServerPilot and GridPane
- Back off a managed platform onto a server you control
- Email moved separately and properly, including to Google Workspace or Microsoft 365
Slot 32 Email The part nobody mentions
Cloudways and RunCloud do not host your email
This catches people out constantly. These platforms run your application stack. They do not run a mail server. Cloudways sells email as a paid add-on through a third party; RunCloud manages the web stack on your own server and leaves mail alone.
So if you move a site to one of them and point your whole domain at the new host, incoming mail stops arriving. Not bounced with a useful error. Delivered to a server that is no longer listening for it.
Handling that is part of every move I do. Your mail records are moved separately from your website records, mailboxes are copied with their folders and read status intact, and the changeover is ordered so nothing is lost in between.
The full explanationSlot 24 Fault log Checked by default
The failures that do not announce themselves
None of these throw an error. Every one is something I have been called in to fix after someone else's migration reported success.
Databases renamed underneath the site
DirectAdmin's cPanel importer renames every database and database user to a
username_ prefix. The import succeeds, the site shows a connection error, and
every config file on the account now points at a name that does not exist.
Addon domains that quietly vanish
A missing or zero MAXADDON value in the cPanel user file makes the restore skip
addon domains entirely. No warning, no log line. The main domain works, and nobody notices
the other eleven until a client calls.
Mail in a format the new server cannot read
Dovecot mdbox mailboxes have to be converted to maildir before a cPanel export, or the mail does not arrive in any useful state. Converting first is a routine command. Discovering it afterwards is a restore from backup.
Archives the importer refuses to recognise
DirectAdmin only treats an archive as a cPanel move file when it is named
cpmove-<user>.tar.gz. A backup-*.tar.gz straight out of cPanel
is not recognised, which sends people down a debugging path unrelated to the actual problem.
Transfer tools that need access you do not have
WHM's Transfer Tool needs root SSH on the old server. On shared hosting that route does not exist, and the answer is a different method rather than a longer argument with the tool.
The no-WHM methodMigrators that break on the database
Plesk Migrator has known trouble with MySQL over sockets, with SSH key authentication, and with MariaDB 11.4. Usually the fix is to let it handle files and configuration and move the databases by hand instead of fighting it.
Plesk failure modesSlot 14 Manifest What comes across
What comes across
- All website files, with ownership and permissions preserved
- All databases and database users, with site configs updated to match
- Mailboxes, with folders, read status and dates intact
- Forwarders, filters and autoresponders, rebuilt where formats differ
- DNS records compared one by one, not copied blind
- Addon domains, parked domains and subdomains, counted against the source
- Scheduled jobs, with paths corrected for the new layout
- SSL certificates reissued or reinstalled after the switch
- PHP versions and per-site settings matched
- A written note of anything that had to be rebuilt by hand
Slot 08 Price list Starting figures
What a move starts at
Published so you can work out whether this is worth a conversation before you have one.
| Single site One website. Files, database, DNS records and the SSL reissued on the other side. | from $79 |
|---|---|
| Full account The whole hosting account: site, mailboxes and DNS together, with the mail counted folder by folder. | from $119 |
| Bulk, 10 accounts or more Whole-server and reseller moves, priced per account rather than per evening. | from $15 per account |
| Bulk, 50 accounts or more The same work at the scale where it is scripted, rehearsed on one account and then repeated. | from $10 per account |
| Mailbox only Mail moved on its own, to a new server, to Google Workspace or to Microsoft 365. | from $8 per mailbox |
Final quote depends on size, data volume and how much has to stay online. The form takes 60 seconds and I reply with a fixed number.
Slot 04 Questions FAQ
Questions I get asked
Will my sites go offline?
No, not in a way visitors notice. Files and databases are copied while the old server is still running. DNS timings are lowered a day or two beforehand so the switch propagates quickly, and mail delivered to the old server during the changeover is synced across afterwards. The only genuinely offline moment is the final database sync on a busy site, which is usually minutes.
What happens to my email?
It comes with you. Mailboxes are copied over IMAP, so folders, read and unread status, flags and message dates survive. This is the part most platform moves get wrong, because Cloudways, RunCloud and similar platforms do not host email at all. If you are moving to one of those, your mail needs somewhere to go, and sorting that out is part of the job.
Can you move me to Cloudways or RunCloud?
Yes, and back off them too. Those platforms manage the application stack rather than a control panel, so the move is different: there are no cPanel accounts to restore, the file layout is different, and email has to be handled separately because neither platform provides it. I do these regularly in both directions.
Can you move without root access to the old server?
Yes, the method just changes. WHM's Transfer Tool needs root SSH on the source, so on shared hosting the route is a control-panel backup plus manual restoration of files, databases, mail and DNS. It takes longer and needs more checking afterwards, and it is a job I do regularly.
How many WordPress sites can you move at once?
One or several hundred. Bulk WordPress moves are mostly a scripting problem: search-and-replace on the database for the domain change, file ownership, PHP version differences, and confirming every site actually loads afterwards rather than spot-checking three of them.
What if something goes wrong halfway?
The old server is not touched destructively and is not decommissioned. If the new one has a problem, going back is a DNS change rather than a restore. Nothing on the old server is deleted until you confirm you are happy, and that is your call on your own schedule.
What does it cost?
A single site starts at $79 and a full account, meaning the site, the mailboxes and the DNS together, starts at $119. Bulk moves are priced per account and drop to $15 from ten accounts and $10 from fifty. Mail on its own is $8 a mailbox. Those are starting figures: site count, total data size, mailbox volume and how much has to stay online are what move the final number, and you get that number as a fixed one before anything starts.
Slot 03 Other services
Other things I do
- New server setup and security A new server, set up properly and locked down before it goes live.
- Ongoing server care Your ops person, without the hire.
- Website design and build A fast site with no hosting bill, or WordPress kept properly maintained.
- WHMCS billing and signup design A signup and billing area your customers can actually get through.
Slot 02 Contact Reply within 1 business day
Send me the move
How many sites, which host you are on now, and what cannot go offline. That is enough for me to tell you how I would run it and what it takes.