Couch Blogging

If you want to avoid to land on one of those malicious virus invected Websites, you should install the WOT Plugin for Mozilla Firefox.

Millions of People around the Globe are using it already. I installed it a few days ago and it does a great job.

How to change your Web Hosting Service and move your Websites including Databases to a new Server.

Every once in a while, it is necessary to change your Web Hosting Provider.  This could be for several reasons. Most of the time it is because the Server where your Sites are hosted has a bad performance and Pages are loading very slow. This is the reason why I just changed my Web Hoster. Everything went smooth and it took less than 2 hours.

Of course it really depends on how large your Sites are. So these are the Steps you have to follow.

1.) Find a good Webhoster and Sign up for any of their Plans. I just switched to Hostgator and so far I’m very pleased with the Server Speed.

2.) Once you have signed up you will get your login Information. Many Hosters use cPanel as their Web Hosting Control Panel and it’s the one I prefer. I always try to find a Hoster who is using cPanel. Now use your favorite ftp Client and download everything that is in the /public_html/ or /public_html/yourwebsite.com/ folder of you old Web Hoster.

This might take a while. You can move on to step 3 while everything is still downloading.

3.) You have to export your old Database. You can either download your Database in cpanel or you access phpmyadmin. The Path for phpmyadmin is usually http://yourwebsite.com:2082/3rdparty/phpMyAdmin/index.php

Now click on the “Export” Tab. Usually you don’t have to change any of the settings, but at the bottom you should mark “Save as file” and choose Compression: zipped or gzipped. Then click on go and the download should start.

4.) You should have received the Url from your new Webhoster to access your cpanel and temporary Website.

This might be something like http://blabla.yourwebhost.com/cpanel and blabla.yourwebhost.com/~youraccount

Log into cpanel and click on “Mysql Databases”. Create a new Database. The name could be anything you want.

Then create a new User and then Add the new user to the new Database.

5.) After this is done go back to the Main Cpanel Window and click on phpmyadmin.

Choose the Database you just created and click on the “Import” Tab to import the Database. After this is done you’re almost done.

6.) Your Download from the old host should have finished by now. Open the configuration File with your favorite Text Editor.

For example:

Joomla: configuration.php

Wordpress: wp-config.php

phpbb: config.php

No matter which CMS, Forum, or Blogging Software you use, you have to make some changes in the Configuration File.

Look for the Database Name, Database User and Database Password. These have to be changed. You probably also have to change the absolute path (home/public_html/youraccount/yourwebsite).

7.) Now upload all your files to your Files to your new Host.

8.) Now check if everything is working, by going to blabla.yourwebhost.com/~youraccount. If everything is ok go to the next step.

9.) Log into your Registrar where you registered your Domain Name. This could be either your new Webhost or your old registrar. I personally use a different Company as my Registrar. Change the Nameserver to the ones you got from your new Webhost. After a few hours your Domain will point to your new Webhosts Server and you’re done !!!