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Migrate a WordPress Site with Solid Central

Move your WordPress site easily. Learn how to use Solid Central Migrations to automatically transfer your site files, database, and themes to a new host.
8 min read

Introduction

Migrating a WordPress site can be a time consuming process that is either carried out manually, or requires the installation (and sometimes, purchase) of a 3rd party migration tool. With Solid Migrations, we do the hard work for you, allowing you to spend this time on other more valuable tasks. Solid Migrations is a powerful and intuitive tool that can be used to move sites between hosts, or even into StellarSites.

This guide will walk you through the migration process, how it works inside the Solid platform, and the steps involved in successfully moving a site from one host to another. By the end of this document, you’ll know how to confidently migrate a WordPress site between two different hosts using Solid Migrations.

What to Expect During a Migration
The time required to complete the deployment varies, but it is typically around 10-15 minutes for a standard WordPress site, depending on its site size.. Larger or more complex sites will take longer e.g. sites with vast media libraries, a significant number of plugins/files, large databases etc.

Differences between a Migration and a Deployment

For customers using Solid Central, the terms Migration and Deployment refer to two different, albeit similar processes:

Origin Site Must Have a Registered Domain
Migrations are intended to be used when migrating your existing website to another server. In order to perform a migration, your origin site must be configured to use your own registered domain name e.g. mydomain.com, with DNS that is properly configured. Temporary or placeholder domains (e.g. tempsite.mydomain.com) are not supported for migrations.

Prerequisites

  • A WordPress site that is reachable via the public internet. Also known as the origin site.
  • WordPress Admin credentials for the origin site and destination site.
  • SFTP or SSH credentials for the origin and destination server where your sites are hosted.
  • Log in credentials for a Solid Central account.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Solid Migrations automates most of the work in moving a WordPress site to a new location, but some steps still require user action, especially around DNS changes and final verification. Below is a breakdown of each step involved in the process.

Connect Origin and Destination Sites
If the server hosting the origin, or destination site that you wish to migrate is not already connected to Solid Central, you will need to connect it. Follow this guide to learn more.

Getting Started with a Migration

  1. Log in to Solid Central.
  2. Click on Sites in the navigation menu.
  3. Click on the site you wish to migrate from your list of sites.
  4. In your site’s dashboard, click on the Deploy icon.
  5. Click Start a Migration to begin the migration process.
  6. Select your destination site from the list.
    • Note: If your destination site isn’t listed, click Add New Site within the dropdown to connect it now without leaving the migration flow.
  7. Once a destination is verified, you have a final chance to review the upcoming migration. Click on Confirm Migration to proceed to the next step.
Destination Data Will Be Erased
Clicking Confirm Migration will permanently overwrite the entire database and file system of the destination site. Ensure you have a backup of the destination site if there is any data you wish to keep.

  1. Solid Central will begin copying your themes, plugins, media, and database tables to the destination. You do not need to keep this window open; the process will continue in the background.
  2. Follow the progress of the migration by looking at the new card in the timeline view as it will always reflect the current status. Click on Read Logs to get a better understanding of how it is progressing.

Finalize your Migration

  1. If you are happy with how the migration has progressed so far, click on “Finalize Migration” to proceed.
  1. Once your content has been successfully migrated to the destination site, Solid Migrations runs an automated search and replace to adjust URLs, file paths, and environment-specific values, so that it reflects the destination, rather than origin site. The URL from the origin site is replaced with the temporary URL provided by your host.

Review the status of the Migrated Site at your Temporary URL

After the migration completes, you’ll be able to use the temporary URL provided by your hosting provider to inspect your site, before updating your DNS records. This temporary domain is typically an automatically generated subdomain such as tempsite01.yourhost.com

This URL allows you to:

  • Preview the full migrated site in a live environment.
  • Test navigation, media, forms, and critical functionality.
  • Access the WordPress Admin to verify settings and content.

This temporary domain is not meant for receiving visitors. It’s possible that some of the plugins and custom code may behave differently until your custom domain is pointed to the server hosting the destination site, and the migration has completed.

It is important that you use this opportunity to validate your site before finalizing the migration and going live with the new site. Once you are happy to proceed with the next steps, click the I’ve Reviewed My Site button to confirm.

Updating your DNS Records

Once you’re satisfied that the newly migrated site is functioning correctly at the temporary URL, it’s time to make the necessary changes to your domain’s DNS records, to point the domain to the new server where the destination site is hosted. Learn more here: Managing Your DNS.

Note: DNS changes may take up to 24 hours to propagate, though many update within a few minutes.

What Happens During Final Cleanup

These final housekeeping tasks ensure that your Solid Central dashboard is updated, to reflect the fact that the origin site has replaced the destination site:

  • The origin site is disconnected from Solid Central.
  • If the site is enrolled with Backups NextGen, backups from the origin site will stop.
  • Timeline entries associated with the destination site are removed.
  • The origin site’s historical timeline and migration records are preserved.
  • Central now treats the destination site as the “official” site.

Next Steps

(Optional) Migrate Again or Cancel

If you need to apply updates to the origin site after previewing the migrated site, you can click the Resync My Site button to re-run the migration and overwrite the destination with the latest version. You can also click the Cancel this Migration button if you decide not to proceed.

Final Manual Verification

Now’s your chance to walk through the destination site as a visitor would. Test the front end and admin area, check for broken links and missing assets, and confirm login functionality.

A successful verification means the site is now live and running from the destination server.

After the Migration is Finalized

Once the migration has been finalized:

  • You’ll manage the destination site in Solid Central going forward.
  • If the site is enrolled in Backups NextGen, scheduled backups will now be taken from the destination site.
  • All historical logs and timeline entries for the origin site are kept, but the connection has been removed.

This ensures your history stays intact while shifting control and responsibility to the new host entirely.

Troubleshooting

If the migrated site doesn’t look right after the migration completes and the DNS updates propagate, here’s what to check:

  • Check that all files and database content were copied correctly.
  • Look in the destination server’s PHP error logs or the WordPress debug log.
  • Consider rerunning the migration, as this will perform the file and database transfer steps again.
  • Double-check the status of the DNS propagation for the domain.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Migrations are specific to particular sites, so first go to the site’s page in Solid Central for the site you want to migrate, and you will see a Deploy link near the title. Click it and you’ll see the Migrate option under that.

No. Solid Central copies your site files and database while your original site remains live. The only potential downtime occurs at the very end when you update your DNS records to point to the new server, which is standard for any migration.

No. As stated in the prerequisites, the origin site must be reachable via the public internet. Solid Central needs to connect to the site to copy its data. If your site is offline, you will need to perform a manual migration.

Your old site remains untouched on the old server. Solid Central simply copies the data to the new location. Once you verify the new site is working and update your DNS, you can manually cancel your hosting plan for the old site.

No. Solid Migrations moves your WordPress website content (files and database) only. It does not migrate email accounts, forwarders, or inbox data. You must migrate your email separately or recreate your accounts on the new server.

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