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This guide will explain how you can easily move your website from your current website hosting provider to 5wire Networks. 

Before proceeding with this guide

As part of all of our Web Hosting packages, we include free migration from your existing host if using one of the following Control Panels –

• cPanel & WHM
• DirectAdmin
• Ensim (Parallels Pro)
• Plesk

We aim to complete this within 24 hours of your request.

If your current hosting provider is not using any of the above control panels, please open up a support ticket as we still may be able to handle the migration for you. 

Step 1: Pre-flight checklist

Before proceeding, we must do our pre-flight checklist to make sure we are able to complete the following steps without breaking anything or getting stuck along the way. 

• How much disk space storage, bandwidth, and features do I use today?
• Do I have FTP access to my current hosting?
• Do I have access to phpMyAdmin or MySQL (or equivalent) to download my database(s)?
• Do I have access to my domain’s DNS / Nameservers?

If you know the answer to the first question, and you answer yes to all of the other questions then you are nearly ready to start. 

Select Web Hosting Package

You will need to sign up for one of our Web Hosting packages before you start the migration to make sure your new hosting environment is ready to go.  Don’t worry, if you need to upgrade for more disk space or features in the future then you are able to quickly do this in a couple of clicks. 

If you are migrating one domain, then please add this during the order process as it will be set as your primary domain. If you are migrating several domains, you’ll see later on how to create addon domains.

Step 2: Prepare your backup

You must take a backup of your website. This process should not break anything, however, we like to protect against those just-in-case moments!

Upload this backup to a local NAS, USB drive, external Hard-Drive, DropBox or Google Drive if you have enough disk space available for an added layer of protection.  

Step 3: Add your domains

If you are migrating only 1 domain/website, and you have already signed up for a Web Hosting package, you will be able to skip this step. 

However, if you have multiple websites to migrate, you will need to add those extra domains in cPanel. You are able to access your cPanel account using the credentials received as part of your Welcome Email from 5wire Networks, or via our Billing Panel.

1. Login to cPanel,
2. Go to Addon Domains,
3. Type your domain into the New Domain Name field,
4. The Subdomain and Document Root fields will be automatically populated.
5. Click Add Domain.

The Document Root will be the folder where your website files will be placed. 

Step 4: Move your website files using FTP

Now it is time to move all of your website files. Depending on your connection speed, and the size of your website, this may take some time. Once you have started the process, you can leave this running on your PC.

The easiest way to move your website files is using FTP. You will need to use a FTP client in order to handle the transfer. We recommend using FileZilla as it is free and available on both Windows and MacOS.

You will need your FTP credentials for your existing hosting provider as well as your new Web Hosting package with us. Your existing host should be able to help you with the existing details if you do not have them available. For our Web Hosting package, your cPanel username and password will allow access to FTP.

Download from your existing host (where your website files are currently held)

1. Create a folder on your computer where you are going to download the website files, e.g. domain.com
2. Inside of this folder, create a folder called Homedir. This is where you will store your website files,
3. Navigate to this folder in your FTP program,
4. Login to FTP using your existing host access credentials,
5. Download the contents of your website files (directory structure and the home location of your website files varies by host, but you’re looking for folders such as sites/files, www, public_html),

If you are transferring more than 1 website, repeat the steps above. We recommend creating a folder per domain if each is a completely different website. 

Upload to your new Web Hosting package with us

1. Login to FTP using your cPanel credentials,
2. Navigate to your domain’s public_html folder, 
3. Select all of the files and click Upload.

Step 5: Backup your website’s databases

If you have a website that uses static HTML files and does not have a database, you can skip to Step 7. 

Many websites today use a CMS such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and many more. These require a database to store the content. 

You will need to export your database from your existing host and then import it into your new Web Hosting package.

Download your database from your existing host

Most hosts will have a database administration tool such as phpMyAdmin. 

Let’s prepare your local folder storage first –

1. Go to your domain folder, you will be able to see the Homedir folder you created earlier,
2. Create a new folder here called Databases.

Now, we will download the databases from the existing host –

1. Open phpMyAdmin,
2. Click Export,
3. Select Custom,
4. Choose the database(s) that you wish to export,
5. Under Output, select Compression (gzipped). This will squeeze your SQL file to make it smaller for faster transfer, 
6. Scroll to the bottom and select Go.

Your database(s) will now download to your local machine. Make sure this file is placed in the Database folder we created above. 

Repeat the above steps for each website.

You now have a snapshot of your website files and database. This is the backup we recommended you take. 

Upload your database to your new Web Hosting package

The next step is to upload your databases to your new Web Hosting package. There is a bit of preparation work to do before we can upload the database.

Create a new database

Under cPanel, you will see the MySQL Database Wizard tool. This is a step-by-step walk-through to create your new database, a user, and then to allocate the appropriate permissions for the user to be able to access the database. 

We suggest using the same credentials as your current host. You will be able to find these details in the website configuration file.

As an example, depending on the version of software you’re using –

• WordPress – wp-config.php
• Joomla – configuration.php
• Drupal – settings.php

As our Web Hosting packages are assigned with a random username for security reasons, you won’t be able to change the username so we will still need to modify the config file shortly. 

1. Go through the MySQL Database Wizard,
2. Create a Database,
3. Create a User,
4. Add User to the database, and assign All Privileges.

Import your database

In cPanel, find phpMyAdmin and follow the steps below –

1. Open phpMyAdmin,
2. Select the database you have just created from the left hand side,
3. Click Import,
4. Click Choose File, and navigate to the Databases folder we created previously, 
5. Scroll to the bottom and select Go.

You will see a green pop-up in phpMyAdmin that will confirm that the database import has been successful. 

If you see the Error “Cannot Create Database username_databasename” with your old username and database name, please follow the steps below –

1. Extract the gzip file with the database in,
2. Edit the SQL file either using Notepad++ or Visual Studio Code,
3. Remove the section — Database `username_databasename`,
4. Compress / Zip the .sql file on your machine.

If you get stuck at this stage, please open a support ticket. 

Step 6: Update your configuration files

If you’re using a static HTML website, please jump to Step 7.

Once you’ve completed your database imports, your website will not work yet. This is because you need to update your website configuration files to correctly point to the database. 

You will need to update the config file –

1. Database Name,
2. Database Username,
3. Database User Password (if you changed this),
4. Host (all of our Web Hosting has locally hosted SQL so you can use localhost).

Step 7: Test your website before you change your nameservers or re-point your DNS

We recommend you check your website is working on your new Web Hosting package before you change your nameservers or re-point your DNS to our servers. This will minimise any downtime, and also it’s bad practice to be debugging a live website in production!

Modify the hosts file

We will Modify our Hosts File to be able to point our computer to the new Web Hosting package.

We are spoofing our machine to be able to force it to look at a different IP address than the one the rest of the internet is looking at.

For a lot of websites, the temporary URL that we issue will not work and will cause a redirect loop or various errors that the CMS will pump out. 

Once you have followed the step for either macOS/Linux or Windows below, you should be able to see your website. If there are any errors, you will need to diagnose these for your CMS or open a support ticket. 

You can find the new website IP Address either in your Welcome Email or in cPanel.

macOS and Linux

To modify your /etc/hosts file on your machine if running macOS or Linux, please do the following –

1. nano /etc/hosts
2. Add the server’s IP address (you can find this in your Welcome Email or cPanel) and domain name under the last try in the file (see below),
3. Save your changes,
4. Either reload your web browser or open a new Private Browsing / Incognito window. 

93.189.2.226 example.com 

You may also add subdomains, which we haven’t covered adding in this guide –

93.189.2.226 example.com hello.example.com 5wire.example.com trees.example.com

Remove or comment out the line once you have completed Step 8.

Microsoft Windows

To modify the /etc/hosts file on a Windows machine, please do the following –

1. Open the Start menu.
2. If you use Windows 8 or Windows 10, type Win+X on the keyboard or click the Windows icon in the lower-left corner of your desktop interface, or if you use Windows 7 or Windows Vista®, click Start,
3. Enter Notepad in the search text box,
4. Right-click Notepad and select Run as Administrator,
5. In Notepad, open the following file: C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts
6. Add the server’s IP address (you can find this in your Welcome Email or cPanel) and domain name under the last try in the file (see below),
7. Save your changes,
8. Either reload your web browser or open a new Private Browsing / Incognito window. 

93.189.2.226 example.com 

You may also add subdomains, which we haven’t covered adding in this guide –

93.189.2.226 example.com hello.example.com 5wire.example.com trees.example.com

Remove or comment out the line once you have completed Step 8.

Sanity check my host file is pointing to the new web hosting

A quick way to check you are viewing your website on your new Web Hosting package is to ping your domain.

macOS/Linux

1. Open the Terminal,
2. Type ping example.com
3. If the IP address corresponds to the one you set in the host file, it means you are seeing your website on your new web hosting package. 

Microsoft Windows

1. Open cmd.exe
2. Type ping example.com
3. If the IP address corresponds to the one you set in the host file, it means you are seeing your website on your new web hosting package. 

Step 8: Update your nameservers or re-point your DNS to our servers

Once you have confirmed that the migration of your website to us is working properly, the last step is to update your domain name to point to us. This update may take up to 24 hours to propagate, however your website visitors will be taken to your website on our servers with no downtime. 

Go to the dashboard where you handle your domain. If you are migrating your domain to us, you can manage this in your Billing Panel.

Nameserver Update

If you are using Nameservers to manage where your domain points, you will need to update them in order to point at our servers.

Our nameservers are –

• ns1.5wire.info
• ns2.5wire.info
• ns3.5wire.info
• ns4.5wire.info

DNS Settings Update

If you are managing your DNS with a control panel, perhaps because you are using a 3rd party email hosting service, you will need to point any A Records from your old host IP to your new Web Hosting package IP address. This IP address is the same as you used in Step 7 for the hosts file, it can be found in your Welcome Email or cPanel.

Remove the modification to the Host file we carried out in Step 7. You can either delete the line or comment it out.

Step 9: Double check and you’re good to go!

Once you have removed the modification to your Host file, you can use the Sanity Check method to ping your domain to see when it has been updated. You may find your home broadband will update faster than if you were to check on your mobile internet (no WiFi of course), or vice versa! 

Usually, the updates happen within an hour, but sometimes it can take up to 24 hours to propagate across the web.

Go through your website to check every page is working. 

If you have any issues during the process above, please open a support ticket and our team will help you.