Migrating a Site via FTP and Manual Database Import

If your previous hosting provider does not offer SSH command-line access, you can migrate your WordPress site to Seravo using a traditional FTP or SFTP file transfer alongside a database dump downloaded from a control panel (such as phpMyAdmin).

This method is especially useful for migrations from traditional web hosts and cPanel environments where the site being migrated is too large to be transferred directly via the browser and migration plugins.

Prerequisites

FTP or SFTP credentials for your old server.
Access to the old server's database management tool (e.g., phpMyAdmin, Adminer, or cPanel).
SSH and SFTP credentials for your new Seravo site.
An FTP client installed on your computer (e.g., FileZilla or Cyberduck).

Step-by-Step Migration Process

1. Export the Database from the Old Server (.sql)

Because the old server lacks a command-line connection, the database is exported using either the hosting provider's graphical control panel or a WordPress plugin:

Option A: phpMyAdmin (Hosting provider's control panel)

Log in to your old hosting provider's control panel and open phpMyAdmin (or an equivalent database tool).
Select the database used by your site from the list on the left.
Navigate to the Export tab in the top menu.
Choose the Custom export method:
- Ensure all tables are selected.
- Choose either uncompressed or Gzipped (.sql.gz) as the compression format.
Click Export and save the SQL file to your local computer.

Option B: WP Migrate Lite Plugin (Recommended if a graphical tool is unavailable)

If you do not have access to phpMyAdmin or if the export times out there, the easiest way to generate an export file is directly from the WordPress admin dashboard:

Install and activate the free WP Migrate Lite plugin on your old site via Plugins > Add Plugin.
Navigate to Tools > WP Migrate.
Select Migrate > Export as the action and choose Database.
Download the generated .sql.gz file to your computer by clicking Export.

Once the file is downloaded to your computer, the process continues exactly the same way: the file is transferred to Seravo's /data/db/ directory and imported using the wp db import command.

2. Download Site Files from the Old Server

The site's appearance, media files, and plugins are located inside the wp-content directory.

Open FileZilla and connect to the old server using its FTP/SFTP credentials.
Security Note Regarding FTP Connections:
Traditional FTP transmits your username and password over the network unencrypted. If your hosting provider supports a secure SFTP or FTPS connection, always choose that option first.
Navigate to the WordPress root directory on the server (often named public_html, www, or httpdocs).
Download the entire wp-content folder to your computer. You do not need to download WordPress core files (such as wp-admin, wp-includes, or root files) because WordPress is already pre-installed in the Seravo environment.

(Advanced alternative: You can also fetch the files directly from the old FTP server to the Seravo server using the wget command from the command line:)

wget -m -np -c "ftp://user:[email protected]/public_html/wp-content/" -P /data/wordpress/htdocs/

3. Transfer Assets to the Seravo Server

Next, transfer the downloaded files from your computer to your new Seravo server via SFTP:

Open a connection in FileZilla to the Seravo server using the SFTP credentials you received with your order (following our SFTP guide).
Transfer the database file (database.sql or database.sql.gz) into the /data/db/ directory on the Seravo server.
Transfer the contents of the wp-content folder from your local computer into the /data/wordpress/htdocs/wp-content/ directory on the Seravo server.

4. Import the Database into the Seravo Environment

Once the files and the SQL dump are on the server, log in to the Seravo server via SSH to import the database:

Open an SSH connection to the Seravo server:
```
ssh [email protected] -p 10350
```
Empty the default database of the new installation:
```
wp db reset --yes
```
Import your transferred SQL file into the database:
```
wp db import /data/db/database.sql
```
Delete the extra SQL file to free up space:
```
rm /data/db/database.sql
```

5. Update Paths and URLs (wp search-replace)

Because the directory structure and domain of the old server differ from Seravo's configurations, you must perform the necessary URL corrections in the database:

Replace the old server's directory paths (e.g., a cPanel path):

wp search-replace '/home/user/public_html/wp-content' '/data/wordpress/htdocs/wp-content' --all-tables

Enable the temporary address for testing:

wp search-replace '//example.com' '//example.fi-c.seravo.com' --all-tables

Purge the caches:
```
wp-purge-cache
```

6. Verify Functionality and Go Live

At the end of the migration, run an integrity check and review the Seravo Plugin's security settings under Tools > Security.
Open the site in a browser using the temporary address and verify that the pages, images, and functionalities load correctly.
Once you have confirmed that everything works properly, you can point your domain traffic to the Seravo server.

Troubleshooting and Exceptions

Database table prefix:
If the old site used a prefix other than the WordPress default wp_, update the new prefix in the /data/wordpress/htdocs/wp-config.php file before accessing the site.
Extremely large database dump (several gigabytes):
If the SQL file import fails due to memory exhaustion, you can run the import directly using a compressed file (.sql.gz) or a raw MariaDB command: wp db query < /data/db/database.sql.