Can WestHost move my account from another host?
In many cases, yes we can. To get started, please order the QuickSwitch addon for your account. As long as your account is within the 60-day introductory period, the QuickSwitch is free. You can order it through cp.westhost.com >> Billing >> Services >> Select your service so that it is highlighted >> Add-Ons.
Once you have reached the Add-Ons page, select "Add New Add-on" and then select the QuickSwitch option as well as any other add-ons that you may need. Click the Submit button to begin the process. You will be contacted so that our technicians can receive the necessary connection details from your old host to begin moving data.
Please note that we can only perform QuickSwitches when you are coming from a shared cPanel host. If you are not currently with a cPanel host, continue reading below for additional information.
How do I move my account to WestHost myself?
You can migrate your account yourself by downloading your content to your local machine, usually via FTP clients like FileZilla. You may also be familiar with SSH and can use it to quickly copy over files with tools like rsync or wget.
To migrate your databases, you can use tools like PHPMyAdmin to export them or request the .sql files from your former host.
Move your existing data onto your new account via FTP, PHPMyAdmin, or other tools you've chosen to use. Note that there are likely going to be differences between PHP, MySQL, and Apache versions in the move and you may need to update the coding to be sure that your website is functioning properly after the migration.
How Can I Update Database Information
When you transfer your database(s) to a new host, the connection details are going to change. Even with a QuickSwitch tool, the username between your old host and WestHost will not match up. Your site may throw errors like "Error establishing a database connection." or "Warning: mysql_connect(): Access denied..." before changing your connection details.
If you've manually created databases in your cPanel and successfully added your new users to them, then you only need to update the connection information in your site application configuration files.
Most site applications have a file like config or configuration.php. You may need to reference your site application help documents online to find the file and open it for editing.
Locate the section with entries such as db_name, db_user, db_password, db_host. Note that these may have slightly different titles in your particular configuration file. Update the titles to the correct information for your WestHost account.
Once login information is updated, your site application should be able to connect so that your site information appears in a WestHost location. If you have questions about migrating your account, please contact our expert support team.