How to Migrate Your Website Without Downtime: A Plain-English Guide

The fear of a broken site or hours of downtime keeps many businesses on bad hosts far longer than they should be. The good news: a well-executed migration causes no perceptible downtime at all. Here's exactly how it works.

The core principle: copy first, cut over second

The key insight is that your old host and new host can run simultaneously. You copy everything to the new host and verify it works there — before you ever touch your DNS. The actual "switch" (the DNS change) takes minutes, not hours, and your site never goes dark.

Step 1: Copy your files

This means your web root — all the PHP, HTML, images, uploads, and application files. For WordPress sites, this is the entire wp-content folder plus the core files. For other apps, it's your application directory. This step can take time for large sites, but your live site keeps running on the old host the entire time.

Step 2: Export and import your database

Most web applications store their data in a database (MySQL or MariaDB for most sites). Export a full dump from the old host, import it on the new host. For WordPress, you'll also need to update the site URL in the database to point to the new host's IP (before DNS moves). For other applications, check your config file for database connection strings.

Step 3: Point a test domain at the new server

Before changing your real domain's DNS, verify the site works completely on the new host. You can do this by editing your local hosts file to point your domain at the new server's IP — only your machine sees the new server, everyone else still sees the old one. Test everything: logins, checkout, forms, media uploads.

Step 4: Lower your DNS TTL

DNS records have a time-to-live (TTL) — a number in seconds that tells resolvers how long to cache the record. If your TTL is 86400 (24 hours), a DNS change can take up to 24 hours to propagate worldwide. Lower it to 300 (5 minutes) at least 24 hours before your planned migration. That way, when you make the switch, it propagates fast.

Step 5: Take a final database snapshot and cut over

When you're ready, take one final export of the database from the old host (capturing any changes since Step 2), import it on the new host, then update your DNS A record to point to the new server's IP. With a low TTL, most visitors will be on the new server within minutes.

Step 6: Monitor and keep the old host live for 48 hours

Don't cancel the old hosting immediately. Keep it live for 48 hours while DNS fully propagates. Monitor your application logs on the new server for errors. Once you're confident, you can let the old host go.

Don't want to do this yourself?

At Entexion, we handle migrations end-to-end. We take care of every step above — files, databases, DNS coordination, post-migration verification — and we don't charge extra for it. Tell us what you're running and we'll take it from there →