How to Transfer a Website to Sitephoria

Please follow these directions to smoothly transfer your website to Sitephoria with little or no downtime during the transition.

Note: In these directions, replace the word domain.com with the domain name of the website you are trying to transfer.

Overview:

1. Choose a Sitephoria Hosting plan online.
   
   
2. Download your current web site to a local folder on your computer using FTP (File Transfer Protocol).
   
   
3. Upload the copy from the local folder on your computer to Sitephoria using FTP. Files in the /public folder will be viewable by a web browser.
   
   
4. Set up HTTPS SSL Encryption if you need it.
   
   
5. Set up any Databases.
   
   
6. If your site uses programs like .cgi, .pl, .asp, or .php then configure these files to work on Sitephoria with your WebsiteOS web control panel and a text editor.
   
   
7. Test the site on Sitephoria using http://www.domain.com.previewmysite.com.
   
   
8. If Sitephoria is handling your email, then create email accounts using the Mail Manager function of your WebsiteOS web control panel.
   
   
9. Make any DNS (Domain Name Service) changes necessary to make the site live.
   
   
10. DNS changes take 2 days to propogate across the Internet. After 2 days, cancel your old hosting account.
    
    

Remember to check our Support page: https://sitephoria.com/support
for answers to any questions you may have.


What you need before you start:

1. Username and password for the Domain Registrar where you registered your domain.
2. FTP username and password for the account at your old host.
3. FTP username and password for your new account at Sitephoria. You will receive an email with this information after you order a hosting plan online.
4. FTP program (we recommend FileZilla), Web Browser, and an Internet connection.

How to Transfer a website to Sitephoria:

1. Order a Sitephoria Hosting plan online.
   
   
   1. Figure out how much disk space your site requires. You will want to add at least 25 MB to this total to have enough space for email and log files. We do not limit how much space you use but charge extra if you go over your allowance.
      
      
   2. Choose a hosting plan. Check out our hosting plan chart: https://sitephoria.com/plans
      
      

      Do you need a database, HTTPS SSL encryption, Microsoft Active Server Pages (ASP) or ASP.NET?	Then you need WinLin Silver or higher.
      Do you need WordPress, Web Stats, Perl CGI, or PHP?	Then you need WinLin Bronze or higher.
      Do you have your own mail server or sub-domains other than www.domain.com or mail.domain.com?	Then you need WinLin Bronze or higher to use our DNS Manager unless you can perform your own DNS.

      
      Remember that you can always upgrade plans easily without any reprogramming.
      
      
   3. Once you have picked a plan which has the right features with enough disk space, bandwidth, and email boxes for your site, then you can go to https://sitephoria.com/order to order your hosting online.
      
      
   4. After ordering, you will then receive an email with instructions on how to FTP to your site, how to access your WebsiteOS web control panel, and how to setup your email.
   
   
   
2. Download your current web site to a local folder on your computer using FTP (File Transfer Protocol).
   
   
   1. You will need to download your site from your old host to your local computer using FTP (File Transfer Protocol). You will need the FTP hostname, username, and password of your old host. Using your FTP program, you can usually highlight all the folders and files on the old host and then push one button to download to a folder on your local computer.
      
      
   2. Files with the .htm, .html, .shtml, .txt, .cgi, .asp, .php, and .pl files should be transfered as ASCII text. Files with .gif, .jpg, .mdb, .pdf, .doc, .avi, .mov, .mpg, .mp3, and .swf extensions should be transferred as BINARY.
      
      
   3. We recommend FileZilla which can be downloaded here: https://filezilla-project.org/
   
   
   
3. Upload the copy from the local folder on your computer to Sitephoria using FTP. Files in the /public folder will be viewable by a web browser.
   
   
   1. You will now need to upload your site from your local computer to your new Sitephoria account using FTP (File Transfer Protocol). Instructions are in the email you received after ordering a hosting plan. All pages and graphics should go into the /public folder. All executable CGI and Perl programs should go into the /cgi-bin folder.
      
      
   2. Files with the .htm, .html, .shtml, .txt, .cgi, .asp, .php, and .pl files should be transfered as ASCII text. Files with .gif, .jpg, .mdb, .pdf, .doc, .avi, .mov, .mpg, .mp3, and .swf extensions should be transferred as BINARY.
      
      
   3. We recommend FileZilla which can be downloaded here: https://filezilla-project.org/
   
   
   
4. Set up HTTPS SSL Encryption if you need it.
   
   
   1. Sitephoria supports SSL certificates to encrypting web pages for functions such as online ordering if you have a WinLin Silver or higher plan. You can install your own certificate if you want to use your own URL to encrypt the page. The URL will be:
      
      https://www.domain.com
      
      or you can use our FREE generic SSL certificate. The URL will then be:
      
      https://www.securewebexchange.com/domain.com/
      
      There is no extra cost for this service.
      
      
   2. Certificates are created for specific server types so you will probaby need to go to the company you received the SSL certificate from and revoke the existing certificate and reissue a new one. Sitephoria certificates need to be for Linux Apache.
      
      
   3. You can generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) from the SSL Manager in the WebsiteOS.
      
      
   4. When you receive a new SSL certificate, you can just cut and paste it into the SSL Manager in the WebsiteOS.
      
      
   5. You need to put all the files you want to encrypt in your /public folder including HTML pages and the .gif and .jpg files which make up the page. The address of these pages will be
      
      https://www.securewebexchange.com/domain.com/
      
      if you are using the generic SSL certificate or
      
      https://www.domain.com
      
      if you installed your own certificate via the SSL Manager.
      
      You should put CGI scripts you want to run over HTTPS in the /cgi-bin folder. The address of these scripts will be
      
      https://www.securewebexchange.com/domain.com/cgi-bin/
      
      if you are using the generic SSL certificate or
      
      https://www.domain.com/cgi-bin/
      
      if you installed your own certificate using the SSL Manager.
      
      
   
   
   
5. Set up any Databases.
   
   
   1. Sitephoria supports many types of database including Access, MySQL, and MS-SQL. Access and MySQL are including with WinLin Silver and higher accounts. MS-SQL costs extra. Please contact for pricing.
      
      
   2. Access databases should be uploaded via FTP as BINARY to the /databases folder. They will not be downloadable by a web browser in this folder. You can create a DSN-less connection to the database using this code:
      
      function getRootPath()
    getRootPath = left(server.mappath("\"), len(server.mappath("\")) - len("public"))
end function

mdbfile = "databases/sample.mdb" 'put .mdb files in databases folder in the root of your web site
connstr = "Driver={Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)};DBQ=" & getRootPath() & mdbfile & ";"

      
   3. Three MySQL databases are included with WinLin Silver and higher accounts. Use the Database Manager under Website Management in the WebsiteOS to create your MySQL databases. You can use HeidiSQL to upload, download, and manage MySQL databases: https://www.heidisql.com
   
   
   
6. If your site uses programs like .cgi, .pl, .asp, or .php then configure these files to work on Sitephoria with your WebsiteOS web control panel and a text editor.
   
   
   1. WinLin Bronze and higher plans let you run .cgi and .pl scripts which are generally Perl programs. They need to be uploaded as ASCII text using FTP and put in the /cgi-bin folder. You then need to make them executable by logging into your WebsiteOS and using the File Manager. Find the file you want to make executable and highlight it. It's permissions will display in the middle of the dialog box. Check the box below the x character for owner, group, and other. Then click Set Perm. If the Perl script does not work, you may need to go into the file and tell it where the Perl interpreter is located. Make sure the top line of the script is this line:
      #!/usr/bin/perl
      
      
   2. WinLin Silver and higher plans let you run Microsoft Active Server Pages (.asp). But you must first enable their operation by logging into your WebsiteOS and selecting Site Builders and then Windows Services. You must have at least one .asp on your site to enable the respective technology. It may take several hours after checking the box and clicking Apply before .asp are enabled for your site.
      
      
   3. WinLin Bronze and higher plans offer PHP. .php scripts are automatically enabled.
      
      
   4. If your scripts have hard-code file paths in them that are specific to your old host, you will need to change them using a text editor and then reupload to the new site. The path to the /public folder that you can use for Perl is:
      
      $public_dir = "/services/webpages/A/B/domain.com/public/";
      
      where A is the first character of your domain name, B is the second character of your domain name and domain.com is your domain name. For example, let's assume your domain name is acme.net, then the path to your /public folder is:
      
      $public_dir = "/services/webpages/a/c/acme.net/public/";
      
      In ASP, use this function to get the path to your /public folder:
      
      public_dir = server.mappath("\")
   
   
   
7. Test the site on Sitephoria using http://www.domain.com.previewmysite.com
   
   
   1. You can preview your site using the above URL and test most pages to see that they work correctly. If you are using .asp and use session variables, you may want to use http://www.previewmysite.com/domain.com to test your site because you may lose your session state often using the first method. This second method may have linking problems because you are previewing the site with a URL that is one folder down from the root, ie., /domain.com/ and absolute paths like /gif will not work.
   
   
   
8. If Sitephoria is handling your email, then create email accounts using the Mail Manager function of your WebsiteOS web control panel.
   
   
   1. All hosting accounts include email boxes. If you wish to use the advanced features of your email like Webmail, personal Auto-Responders, Anti-SPAM features and Anti-Virus scanning, then go into your WebsiteOS and select Mail Manager. Here you can add and delete users and set up other preferences.
      
      
   2. If you email is being hosted some place else, please make sure that your DNS MX record points to mail.domain.com and mail.domain.com points to that email server's IP number. You will also need to let us know that you are not using our email by emailing so that we can remove you from our mail server's sendmail.cw file.
   
   
   
9. Make any DNS (Domain Name Service) changes necessary to make the new site live.
   
   
   1. If you want NETPHORIA to handle your DNS (Domain Name Service), please change your primary and secondary DNS servers to use these IP numbers at your Domain Registrar. Your Domain Registrar is where you registered your domain name, for example Network Solutions (NSI) or DomainPeople.com:
      
      DNS1.NETPHORIA.COM
      216.251.45.37
      
      DNS2.NETPHORIA.COM
      216.251.46.37
      
      You will need a username and password to log into the account manager that your Domain Registrar uses to make this change or you can just make us the Domain Registrar for your domain name by transferring it to us here:
      https://sitephoria.com/domainnames
      
      
   2. If you would like to perform your own DNS, then please change your DNS records to this IP number:
      
      www.domain.com --> 216.251.32.98 (WinLin Bronze and higher plans)
      or
      www.domain.com --> 216.251.32.92 (WinLin Lite plans)
      
      
   3. You can also have domain.com point to your web site (without the www) if you change your DNS records and point:
      
      domain.com --> 216.251.32.98 (WinLin Bronze and higher plans)
      or
      domain.com --> 216.251.32.92 (WinLin Lite plans)
      
      Be careful that domain.com doesn't already point to your mail server. If so, you will not get email.
      
      
   4. If you would like to perform your own DNS but still use our mail servers, please change your DNS records to this IP number:
      
      mail.domain.com --> 216.251.32.97
      
      and then add the below MX mail records to the DNS for domain.com:
      
      IN MX 10 mx1.megamailservers.com
      IN MX 100 mx2.megamailservers.com
      IN MX 110 mx3.megamailservers.com
      
      
      
   5. DNS changes take 2 days to propogate across the Internet. After 2 days, cancel your old hosting account.
      
      
      1. At this point, your web site resides on our servers. The next step is for the entire Internet to recognize the location of your domain name. This process is called DNS propagation, and it typically takes 24 - 48 hours for all of the DNS tables on the Internet to be updated. You may not be able to use this domain name to view your new website before this process is complete.
      
      
      
   Remember to check our Support page: https://sitephoria.com/support
   for answers to any questions you may have.