Website migration sounds incredibly complicated. It resonates as something time consuming and difficult to understand or do. There is something about the word “Migration” that makes someone want to take a stress nap. Like it’s something that only tech experts (and birds) can wrap their heads around. Have no fear! We’ve come up with an analogy to make it easier to understand or explain to others.
Website migration with the same Host
First, let’s understand migrating websites along the same host. Let’s think about this in terms of switching phone plans. Let’s say that someone wants to break off of their family plan and have a single line with that same company, easy right? All that needs to be done is to transfer the already existing phone number off the family plan and onto the new plan. They don’t need to make a new number since it already exists with that company. In the case of the website, the phone number would be the IP Address. This means all the connections to the site won’t change!
Website migration with different hosts
Of course, website migration can get a little tricky when moving from one host to another. But in the meantime let’s go back to the phone plan analogy. If that same person would rather move over to a different carrier it would require them to close that account and open a new one. The number might be different but they are still able to move over all of their phone’s content over to the new carrier. In the case of the website, the IP will end up being changed. So, email connections, domain/URL connections and certain functionalities may need to be updated to work properly.
When changing from one host to another, you want to make sure that the new host can set up their servers to mock your current settings. Moving a website from one type of environment to another can be risky if not properly researched. You’ll need the same amount of space, same file structures, and database options. This is something we recommend consulting on!
Obviously, there are a few risks that come from this process so having a well thought out plan beforehand will lower the chance of them. Knowing how everything should be structured on the new server space will help make for a smoother transition.
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