Migrating a WordPress Site Using UpdraftPlus

The purpose of this guide is to show the steps needed in migrating a WordPress site using the UpdraftPlus plugin.

Installing UpdraftPlus

The first step is to log into the WP Admin area of the site you wish to migrate. This can either be done via cPanel / My Apps or through a domain link if provided by the customer. For example https://mysite.com/wp-admin/

My Apps

Once logged in we need to navigate to Plugins / Add New in the menus on the left-hand side.

Add New Plugin

Perform a search for updraft in the upper right search box.

UpdraftPlus WordPress Backup Plugin should be the first option available. Click Install Now

Install Now

When it shows the plugin has been installed, click Activate

Activate

Generating a Backup

After activation, you will be taken to the Plugins screen. Locate UpdraftPlus - Backup/Restore and click Settings

Settings

Click Backup Now

Backup Now

In the next window make sure that Include your database in the backup and Include your files in the backup are selected. Click Backup Now

Take a new backup

You will receive confirmation once the backup finishes. Please note that this could take a long time with large sites and closing your browser window or tab will terminate the process.

Backup Finished Running

You will now be shown the different parts of the backup. This consists of the Database, Plugins, Themes, Uploads and Others.

Existing Backups

Clicking on each backup part will allow you to download them to your local computer.

Download Backups

Installing WordPress

We are now ready to upload the backups to the new server, however, the first step is to install WordPress if it hasn’t been installed already. Once you are logged into cPanel, under Applications, click My Apps

My Apps

When no applications are installed you will see the following screen.

Installed Applications Blank

Click Applications Browser and then WordPress

Installatron

Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Install

Install

Once WordPress has been installed you can click on mysite.com/wp-admin/

WP Admin

Restoring Backups with Updraft

Follow the directions above for installing Updraft Plus and once activated, click Settings

Settings

We can now upload the backup files from the old server.

Upload backup files

The next step is to perform the restoration. Click Restore

Restore

To restore the full site, make sure each component is selected and then click Next

Restoration 1_1

On the second screen Click Restore

Restoration 2

Once the restoration is finished you will be presented with a Restore successful! acknowledgement. You can then return to the UpdraftPlus configuration.

Restore Successful

This sounds like a straightforward process, but when I try to upload the five backup files to my new instance on RH, two of the files fail with this error:

image

The two files that fail to upload are minuscule compared to the 150MB file upload limit (3MB and 8.6MB), so I can’t understand why I would get such an error. The other three are even smaller and seem to upload fine.

I’d be grateful for ideas.

Steve, most likely it’s because you are using the skipdns.link. If you could please send in a ticket to support@reclaimhosting.com I’ll be more than happy to take a closer look for you.

Thanks.

Gordon

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Thanks Gordon. Jim suggested using the File Manager within cPanel to upload the files directly. (It wasn’t clear to where, but eventually I figured out that /public_html/wp-content/updraft was the right place.) From there I was able to complete the restore and everything looks like it worked, so I think I’m good to go. I’ve updated DNS servers, and once everything’s propagated I’ll know for sure. Boom!

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