How To Transfer a WordPress Blog - The Easy Or Hard Way
There’s two ways to transfer a blog to another server, as I was reminded tonight - the easy way and the hard way.
The easy way is a simple XML output of the articles, (using the Manage;Export;Download Export File in Admin) and then the reverse on the other blog (Manage;Import;WordPress;Upload file and import).
But, this doesn’t include the blog settings, theme, plugins or anything else.
Or you can port over the whole database - but this has its own problems:
- Versions of mySQL differ on different servers. I’ve had small differences in how the table structure was set up - differences that prevented importing, especially from an newer version to a older one.
- Database names are different for different servers. Many I’ve used start with the login name of the account, and then the table name. Obviously then, a different account would differ. In this case, load the mySQL into an editor (I’m a huge fan of PSPad), and change the names.
- Versions of WP differ in how the Database is set up, so you shouldn’t try to transfer a site AND upgrade WP at the same time (although if anyone is interested, upgrading from 1.5.2 to 2.3.3 with /wp-admin/upgrade.php does run smoothly, I’m happy/embarrassed to say!)
That’s the hard way…
So how can you make life easy? Here’s a few tips:
- Upgrade on your current server first. If you can’t/won’t do that, at least make sure you have an XML output AND a database backup. If you use cPanel, many installs include a ‘backup’ button on the home panel; from there, click on the ‘weekly’ button under System Backups. I find that includes the site AND the database, and you can use any unzip program to view it. Note that not all the files you unpack are valid file names under Windows, so you might get errors; however, the database and WordPress parts will be fine.
- Set up a fresh install (same WordPress version) on the new site, and use the XML import to put the articles in place.
- Add the other settings, plugins, theme, etc by hand.
If you’re comfortable with databases, you can export by SQL and import by SQL in phpMyAdmin. I find it works best to export the table and data separately - that way, I can get the table installed and working, then add the data.
These tips are for transferring to a site of the same domain name - if you’re transferring to another domain, that’s another kettle of fish entirely, and left for another post.
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