How to Migrate to a New VPS or Dedicated Server

In order to migrate your current VPS or Dedicated server to a brand new environment, there are some general steps you can follow based on which type of Operating System your server has.

For a Windows server, the steps include:

• Configure your websites in IIS and copy the website data
• Install SQL and copy your databases (if applicable)
• Install SmarterMail and copy your mail data (if applicable)
• Update DNS records to point to the new server IP

For a Linux server without a control panel, the steps include:

• Configure your websites in Apache and copy the website data
• Install MySQL and copy your databases (if applicable)
• Configure your preferred email service and copy mail data (if applicable)
• Update DNS records to point to the new server IP

For a Linux server that has Plesk or cPanel, you can use the Plesk migration tool to automatically migrate your server data to the new environment.

Please refer to the links below for information on the items above.

WINDOWS

How to configure FTP on your new server and create an ftp user to use for copying data:
https://helpdeskgeek.com/networking/how-to-ftp-server-setup/

How to install IIS on a new Windows Server:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/iis/install/installing-iis-85/installing-iis-85-on-windows-server-2012-r2#install-iis-85-for-the-first-time-in-the-server-manager

How to configure a new site in IIS:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/323972/how-to-set-up-your-first-iis-web-site

How to install SmarterMail:
https://portal.smartertools.com/kb/a2719/install-smartermail.aspx

How to move SmarterMail data to a new server:
https://portal.smartertools.com/kb/a2724/migrate-smartermail-to-a-different-server.aspx

How to install Microsoft SQL:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/database-engine/install-windows/install-sql-server

How to move SQL databases to a new server:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/314546/how-to-move-databases-between-computers-that-are-running-sql-server

LINUX

How to configure a new site in Apache:
https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/vhosts/examples.html

How to install MySQL:
https://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql-yum-repo-quick-guide/en/

How to move MySQL databases to a new server:
https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/copying-databases.html

LINUX (Plesk)

How to use the Plesk migration tool to migrate Plesk to a new Plesk server:
https://docs.plesk.com/en-US/onyx/migration-guide/migrating-from-supported-hosting-platfoms/migrating-via-the-plesk-interface.75721/

LINUX (cPanel)

How to use the Plesk migration tool to migrate cPanel to a new Plesk server:
https://support.plesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/213905265-How-to-migrate-from-cPanel-to-Plesk-using-Plesk-Migrator-