Hosting Migration Checklist


Last updated on July 4th, 2015 at 07:06 pm

I?ve migrated the server this site runs on. Let me know if anything has broken in the move either in a comment or by email to paulz at this domain.

Here is a top level checklist for managing such a move. I?ll expand it as the post migration testing continues.

  1. Check dependencies for your application and site
    1. PHP version & modules
    2. Database versions
    3. Apache modules
    4. Application hard coded file system paths
  2. Copy file system files
    1. You can use SCP/FTP tools or rsync
  3. Copy databases
    1. If files are small (<50MB gzip?ed) you can use phpMyAdmin to export then import to your new host.
    2. Larger sites will need to use FTP and command line tools.
  4. Migrate email addresses, aliases/forwarders and any IMAP mail
    1. IMAP email boxes can be manually moved via email client. This can be slow for mailboxes >100MB
    2. Gmail is great for migrating mail and gives 7.5GB of storage assuming you don?t mind Google tracking everything.
  5. Migrate mailing lists and mailing list application if any.
  6. Note any domain name aliases on old host and replicate on new host
  7. Migrate hosted stats package like awstats
  8. Check cron jobs for any custom jobs/apps that need to be migrated
  9. Update domain SPF records
  10. SSH keys will change ? be aware of it
  11. Change DNS name server delegation
  12. Test
    1. email addresses,
    2. mailing lists,
    3. mail forwarding
    4. applications
  13. Check for broken links

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