WordPress comes pre-installed on all our WordPress hosting packages, and as a result, migrating your site to us may be slightly different to migrating to other hosts. This article guides you through migrating your site(s) to Lyrical Host yourself; However if you'd rather we migrate your site(s) for you, you can learn more and book your free migration on our Moving In page.
Manual Migration
1) Download wp-content directory and any necessary files from root: As WordPress is already installed on your hosting package, there is no need to transfer the wp-admin and wp-includes directories, or any of the core WordPress files located in your website root (wp-config.php, wp-login.php etc.). Transferring these files will only add to the amount of time it takes to transfer your site and in addition, overwriting the wp-config.php file on our server will prevent your Lyrical Host WordPress installation from accessing the database that has been automatically created for it.
You may however have certain files in the root directory that do need to be transferred over (favicons, verification files from services like Google or Pinterest for example), and you should make sure to download those at the same time as downloading the wp-content directory.
2) Export database: From your old hosting control panel, you'll need to access your database. You should have an icon within your control panel marked "phpMyAdmin". This is a browser based database admin tool. Once you've logged into phpMyAdmin, please select the relevant database. Once you've done that, click export, and then select the custom option.
If your database is more than 20-30MB, we would strongly recommend selecting zipped or gzipped in the Compression dropdown. Leave all the other settings as they are and scroll to the bottom of the page and click Go. Once the download completes, you'll have a copy of your database on your local machine, ready to be uploaded to your Lyrical Host account.
3) Upload your files to your Lyrical Host hosting package: This can either be done via the File Manager in LyricalCP or via FTP. If you need any help connecting to your Lyrical Host Site via FTP you can find a number of related articles here; Alternatively, you can raise a ticket and our support team will be happy to help.
Once the upload is complete, navigate to wp-content/mu-plugins. If there are any files or directories present other than wp-stack-cache.php, you should delete them (as these are typically leftovers from your previous host's specific WordPress install configuration, and are no longer required/may no longer function correctly).
4) Import database: Click on the phpMyAdmin icon in your LyricalCP, and then click login. Once you've logged into phpMyAdmin, select the database (in the left hand sidebar), and then upload the copy of your database from your local machine by dragging and dropping it into your browser window. A small popup will appear in the right hand bottom corner of your screen which will track the progress of the upload.
Once a green tick appears next to the upload bar, you can safely refresh the page and all your tables will be listed. If you receive any any errors at this point, raise a ticket and our team will advise you on what is wrong.
5) Modify wp-config (if necessary): If your WordPress table prefix is not 'wp_', then you will need to modify the wp-config.php file (which you can access either via the LyricalCP File Manager, or by FTP). Modify the '$table_prefix' line so that it matches the same line in your old wp-config file.
Migration via a plugin
Please follow the instructions provided by the plugin developers. These instructions will vary depending on the specific migration plugin you're using, but will typically begin with installing and activating the plugin on your current site.
If you require the login details for the Lyrcial Host version of your site's database for the plugin to function, you can find these in the wp-config.php file located in the public_html directory of your Lyrical Host site (which you can access via FTP, or via the File Manager in LyricalCP).
If the plugin you use requires a blank directory to function, please let our team know and they will temporarily switch your hosting package to our Linux platform and delete the pre-existing files for you so that you have the blank directory you need. Once your migration is complete, let them know and they will transfer your site back to our optimised WordPress platform.
If at any point you require any assistance, please raise a suport ticket and our team will be able to help.
