How to Migrate a Website to Cloudways?

How to Migrate a Website to Cloudways?

If you are looking for a fast, simple, and reliable managed cloud hosting platform, you might want to consider Cloudways. Cloudways is a platform that allows you to host your websites on top of popular cloud providers such as DigitalOcean, Linode, AWS, Google Cloud, and Vultr (see the update at the end of the article). You can enjoy the benefits of cloud hosting without the hassle of managing servers, security, backups, or performance optimization.

But how do you migrate your existing website to Cloudways? In this article, we will show you how to do it in a few easy steps. We will also explain why Cloudways is a great choice for your website hosting needs and how it can help you grow your online business.

Why Choose Cloudways for Your Website Hosting?

Cloudways is not just another hosting provider. It is a platform that simplifies cloud hosting and gives you more control and flexibility over your websites. Here are some of the reasons why you should choose Cloudways for your website hosting:

• Performance: Cloudways offers a fully optimized stack with built-in advanced cache and Cloudflare CDN, which ensures peak website performance and faster loading times. You can also scale your server resources up or down with one click, depending on your traffic needs.
• Security: Cloudways provides dedicated firewalls, free SSL certificates, regular security patching, and auto-healing servers to protect your websites from hackers and malware. You can also enable two-factor authentication and IP whitelisting for extra security.
• Support: Cloudways offers 24/7/365 expert support for solving problems on the spot. You can also choose the Advanced Support add-on for enhanced support or the Premium Support add-on, which gives you access to senior support engineers who act as an extension of your in-house team.
• Simplicity: Cloudways removes the complexity of cloud hosting and lets you focus on what matters most: your business. You can launch your websites in minutes with one-click installation of popular applications such as WordPress, Magento, Laravel, PHP, and more. You can also manage your websites with a user-friendly dashboard that lets you perform operations such as staging, backups, cloning, SSL installation, domain mapping, and more.
• Flexibility: Cloudways gives you the freedom and choice to host your websites on any of the five cloud providers and any plan that suits your budget and requirements. You can also migrate your websites from other hosting providers to Cloudways for free with their migration service.

How to Migrate Your Website to Cloudways?

Migrating your website to Cloudways is easy and hassle-free. You can do it in two ways: using the Cloudways WordPress Migrator plugin or using the Cloudways migration service.

Using the Cloudways WordPress Migrator Plugin

If your website is built on WordPress, you can use the Cloudways WordPress Migrator plugin to migrate it to Cloudways. This plugin automates the migration process and transfers your website files and database to your Cloudways server without any downtime or data loss. Here are the steps to use the plugin:

1. Create an account on Cloudways and choose a cloud provider, server size, location, and application (WordPress) for your website.
2. Once your server is ready, go to the Applications tab on your Cloudways dashboard and copy the Application URL, Database Name, Database Username, Database Password, and Database Host from the Access Details section.
3. Go to your WordPress admin dashboard on your current hosting provider and install and activate the Cloudways WordPress Migrator plugin.
4. Go to Tools > Migrate to Cloudways and enter the details you copied from your Cloudways dashboard. Also enter your email address where you want to receive notifications about the migration progress.
5. Click on Migrate Application and wait for the migration to complete. You will receive an email confirmation when it is done.
6. Go back to your Cloudways dashboard and update your domain name under the Domain Management section. You can also enable HTTPS by installing a free SSL certificate under the SSL Certificate section.
7. Update your DNS records at your domain registrar to point your domain name to your Cloudways server IP address. You can find your server IP address under the Server Management > Master Credentials section on your Cloudways dashboard.
8. That’s it! Your website is now migrated to Cloudways and ready to go live.

 

Using the Cloudways Migration Service

If you don’t want to use the plugin or if your website is not built on WordPress, you can use the Cloudways migration service to migrate it to Cloudways. This service is free for the first website and requires you to fill out a migration request form with some details about your website. Here are the steps to use the service:

1. Create an account on Cloudways and choose a cloud provider, server size, location, and application for your website.
2. Once your server is ready, go to the Applications tab on your Cloudways dashboard and click on Request Migration from Other Host under Application Management.
3. Fill out the migration request form with details such as your current hosting provider name, current hosting control panel URL, current hosting control panel username and password, current website URL, current website admin URL (if applicable), current website admin username and password (if applicable), FTP/SFTP/SSH access details (if applicable), database access details (if applicable), etc.
4. Click on Submit Request and wait for the migration team to contact you via email with further instructions.
5. The migration team will perform the migration for you and notify you when it is done. You can also track the migration status on your Cloudways dashboard under Application Management > Migration Status.
6. Once the migration is complete, update your domain name under the Domain Management section on your Cloudways dashboard. You can also enable HTTPS by installing a free SSL certificate under the SSL Certificate section.
7. Update your DNS records at your domain registrar to point your domain name to your Cloudways server IP address. You can find your server IP address under the Server Management > Master Credentials section on your Cloudways dashboard.
8. Congratulations! Your website is now migrated to Cloudways and ready to go live.

Conclusion

Migrating your website to Cloudways is a smart move if you want to enjoy the advantages of cloud hosting without the headaches of managing servers or paying high costs. Whether you use the plugin or the service, migrating your website to Cloudways is easy and fast. You can also benefit from their features such as performance optimization, security protection, support assistance, simplicity of use, and flexibility of choice.

If you are ready to migrate your website to Cloudways (link to pricing page), you can start with a 3-day free trial without a credit card. Don’t miss this opportunity to take your website hosting to the next level with Cloudways!

UPDATE 230711: Cloudways quietly dropped support for VPS servers from both Vultr and Linode. The only options they now offer are Digital Ocean, Google and Amazon.

UPDATE 240510: Vultr and Linode are back on Cloudways.