When you upgrade from Classic hosting to cPanel, you will need to move your website. There are several options to do this yourself - either automatically or manually.
Before getting started, there are a few things you want to know:
There are some important differences between your Classic web hosting account and the newer cPanel Linux hosting. This is because the new hosting platform does not support some outdated software platforms.
The following features are not supported in cPanel hosting:
Note: If your site is custom-coded to use the ITEGY form mailers, you will need to use your favorite search engine to find a different form mail script. Those scripts do not work with cPanel hosting.
You will go through the normal purchase process for buying a new hosting account. Your new cPanel account is free for the first year.
You need to set up your new hosting account with either a temporary domain or a subdomain. You cannot use the same domain as your Classic hosting account until it is cancelled, which should be done last.
Setting up your new account this way lets you minimize downtime, and also let you preview your site on the new hosting account. A simple way to do this would be to set up the account with migration.coolexample.com, using your own domain instead of coolexample.com.
To set up your account using a subdomain, see Set up my cPanel hosting account.
Now for the fun part. You will migrate your website from your Classic hosting account to the new cPanel hosting. Fortunately, there are several different ways to do this. The best way to migrate your site depends on how your site is built.
cPanel hosting uses Installatron to install and manage applications. If you are using an application that is supported by Installatron, you can use it to automatically move your site. Installatron will move the site and automatically update the site settings and connection strings for you.
Some of the most popular applications supported by Installatron include:
If you want to use Installatron to automatically move your site to cPanel, see our Installatron migration guide.
If your site is custom-built, or does not use a common web application such as WordPress, you will need to move the site manually. Moving a site manually can be tricky, so it is important to folow all the steps in the right order.
If you need to manually move your site, follow our manual migration guide for moving your site from Classic hosting to cPanel hosting using FTP.
This is where we will actually cancel the Classic hosting account for good. When this happens, the site will go down almost immediately. The site will not go back online until you change the domain on the cPanel account. Once you cancel, it may take up to a few hours for the domain and original account to be removed from our records.
When you are ready, check out Canceling Your Hosting Account.
Note: It can take up to 24 hours for the domain name to be available for use again after you cancel your hosting account.
It can take a few hours for the domain name to be removed from the Classic hosting before you can use it with your cPanel hosting. You should periodically try to change the domain on the new account one hour after canceling the Classic hosting account (e.g. changing migration.coolexample.com back to coolexample.com).
To start trying to change your domain name, see Change your account's domain in cPanel hosting.
After the change goes through, we'll make the appropriate updates on our side and your site should be live within a few hours. If you don't see the changes, contact customer support.
You're done! We think you'll find that the new and improved cPanel hosting is worth the effort.