🔁 Migrate a Website from cPanel to VPS

Many hosting providers use cPanel, but when switching to an unmanaged VPS, you may not have a control panel. This guide shows how to manually (or partially automatically) migrate your website from cPanel to a Bit.Hosting VPS.

📤 Step 1: Export Data from cPanel

• 📦 Log in to cPanel → Backup → Full Account Backup
• 📧 Download the backup or send it to email/FTP
• 📂 For smaller sites, manually download public_html and mail folders
• 💾 Export databases via phpMyAdmin or the MySQL section

📥 Step 2: Deploy on Bit.Hosting VPS

• 🖥 Install necessary software: web server, PHP, MySQL/PostgreSQL
• 📁 Upload your website files to a directory similar to public_html
• 📤 Import the database:
  mysql -u root -p dbname < dump.sql
• 🔧 Update wp-config.php, .env or your app config with new DB credentials

📨 Step 3: Transfer Email (If Needed)

• 📧 Save email accounts from cPanel → Email Accounts
• 📬 Use an IMAP client (like Thunderbird) to copy old emails
• 📤 Set up email on VPS (Postfix + Dovecot) or use external SMTP

🌐 Step 4: Domain and DNS Setup

• 🔄 Update your domain's A record to point to your VPS IP
• 🕓 Lower the TTL to 300 seconds before changing records
• 🔐 Install an SSL certificate and ensure the site is accessible via HTTPS

📌 Migration Tips from cPanel

• 📎 Full backups are easier if you're switching to a similar panel (e.g., DirectAdmin, ISPmanager)
• 🔧 For manual transfers, use SCP, WinSCP, or rsync
• 📬 Migrate important mailboxes first to avoid loss
• 🧪 Do not cancel your old hosting until everything works on the VPS