Move your website to WP Engine

Back up before anything else

Take a copy of the files and the database and keep it off both hosts. This is not the migration copy — it is what you restore from when the migration copy turns out to be incomplete.

• Files from your current host's file manager or over FTP
• Database as a single SQL export
• Store both somewhere that is neither the old host nor the new one

Request the Automated Migration plugin

Install the WP Engine Automated Migration plugin on the source site and supply the destination details from your WP Engine install

• Typical duration: Varies with site size
• It copies the site so you can verify it before changing DNS, rather than moving it
• WordPress only — there is no facility for other applications
• Create a dedicated admin account for the migration rather than sharing your own, and remove it afterwards

Or move it by hand into the site's WordPress install

Compress on the server and move one archive. Dragging thousands of small files over FTP is where migrations stall.

• Turn on hidden files before compressing, or .htaccess is left behind
• Upload the archive into the site's WordPress install and extract it there
• If the archive contained the web root folder itself, move the contents up one level
• SSH is available on some plans, which makes this considerably faster

Create the database, then grant the user

The database and its user are separate objects. A site that loads but reports a connection error is almost always a missing grant rather than a wrong password.

• Use phpMyAdmin
• Grant All Privileges on the new database
• Panels usually prefix both names with your account name — use the full names

Import the database and update the credentials

Import into the empty database, then point the application at it. Check the table count against the source; a partial import reports nothing useful.

define( 'DB_NAME', 'the new database name' );
define( 'DB_USER', 'the new user' );
define( 'DB_PASSWORD', 'the password you just set' );
define( 'DB_HOST', 'localhost' );

Rebuild what the migration left out

The exclusions again, because this is the step people skip: DNS records, email, the registrar transfer. List them at the old host before you cancel, because afterwards the list is gone.

• DNS records
• Email
• The registrar transfer

Test before you touch DNS

This is what separates a calm migration from a bad one. Load the new copy while the old host still serves the public.

• Use the temporary URL WP Engine provides
• Better: a hosts file entry so the real domain resolves here for you only, which catches redirect loops a temporary URL hides
• Click through properly — forms, logins, checkout, an image deep in an old post
• Match the PHP version to the old host first; upgrade later as a separate change

203.0.113.10  example.com www.example.com