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Portable.

How to take it with you.

Web Hosting Migration: How to Move Your Site Away From 100Percentweb.ca Hosting

First, of course we hate to see any client leave. However, we don’t own your website, and we can’t (or won’t) force you to stay. We do not provide site migration services for moving out, but we do provide access. If you do not know how to do these steps, then talk to your destination host or the consultant you are working with.

When contacting support for help with moving out, please be direct. We always know, based on the questions asked, when a customer is planning to move their site. We will not prevent you from moving, and there is no additional cancellation charge to do so.

Before you move website to a new host

You should know that we’d be happy to continue hosting your website, even if you’ve decided to use someone else to develop or maintain it. We already do this for a large number of sites, and as the province’s largest web host, our Canadian data-resident hosting platform can provide access to anyone you direct for these purposes, making it a neutral space. It’s your choice where to host your site, and at your option, we can note who your developer is on your account so they can contact us on your behalf, and we’ll provide them with expert support whenever it’s needed.

The parts of your site that may need to be moved

There are several parts to be moved — you can move one or all of them.

  1. Website files and data
    This includes images, text, MySQL (MariaDB) database contents
  2. Email
    Some customers have email hosted with us that resides on our servers. It’s possible to have very large mailboxes stored in IMAP folders on our servers
  3. DNS
    the records that the entire Internet community uses to translate a domain name such as yoursite.com into an IP address such as 192.168.1.1
  4. Domain name registration
    the name your website and/or email are known by (e.g., mysite.com). We register domains on behalf of our customers, but the domains belong to the customer in nearly every case. You may have one or more domains to transfer.

More Information

External Resources

All of the above are independent, and we may be hosting one of or all four of those services for you. We can continue providing any of those services even if you move some services away. We find it simplest to host all of them together because then it gives us the ability to make changes more easily whenever necessary.

Moving Website Files and Data

Cpanel access may be the easiest way. If you don’t know your Cpanel login then contact support and we will help recover your login information. Cpanel access allows you to download files, take dumps of MySQL databases, make DNS record changes, and do other things.

WordPress websites can be moved using a plugin like Updraft if you prefer working that way.

Moving Email

If you are migrating to Google’s Gsuite or Microsoft 365, then we recommend using the tools that they provide.

If you are moving to another IMAP server then the destination host may provide some tools that you can use. Make sure that you take a copy of the messages you have stored in IMAP folders before you lose access to them by cancelling your account.

Moving DNS

You can make DNS changes using your CPanel login; however, if you do that on our systems, then our servers are still providing the DNS service. If you cancel your service with us after that, then your site will stop working, even if it is on another server.

In order to fully move DNS, look at your Cpanel account and make a copy of all the records in your DNS zone, and create the necessary ones on the destination of your new host. Then you must log into your domain registrar and change the DNS pointer there. This step tells the Internet community that your DNS records will come from a different place.

If you do not know your Cpanel login information, please contact support.

Moving Domain Name Registration

You can move your domain name to another registrar by completing a domain transfer request with the destination registrar. Before doing so, your domain will need to be unlocked, and you will need a transfer code to provide during the confirmation steps. This can be done using our domain registration portal.

If you do not know how to access your domain registration portal with us, contact support.

Third Party Services

Sometimes we are asked for logins for other services like social media accounts, Google Analytics, mailing list software, or similar third-party services. We may have access to your logins if you have provided them, but generally we will be working with access you have provided, and you should already have this information available.

Software Licenses

For some clients, we may be using bulk software licenses, such as for certain WordPress plugins. If you migrate your site away, you will need to replace these directly with those vendors, as any bulk licenses would no longer apply. If you have questions about whether this applies, please contact support and we’ll provide you with any licensing information you may need.