Best Practices for Migrating a PHP Site to CloudPanel

[Nemesis]

What are the recommended best practices for migrating my existing PHP website to CloudPanel with minimal downtime?

 

[Rootali]

Below are the recommended best practices for migrating a PHP site (e.g., www.domain.com) to CloudPanel smoothly and safely:
Step 1: Create a PHP Site on CloudPanel

• Use your live domain (e.g., www.domain.com) when creating your PHP site. This ensures correct Nginx redirection from non-www to www, or vice versa.
• CloudPanel automatically adds a subdomain (www1.domain.com) as a pre-live domain for testing.

Step 2: Configure DNS for Testing​

• Create an A record for your testing subdomain:

  www1.domain.com → your-server-IP

  
  
• Enable Basic Authentication in CloudPanel to prevent search engines from indexing your test site.

Step 3: Migrate Your Website Content​

• Files:
  Copy your website files from the old server to your CloudPanel site directory via FTP or SFTP.
• Database:
  On the old server, export your database using:
  

  mysqldump -h127.0.0.1 -u$userName -p --opt --single-transaction --quick $databaseName > dump.sql

  
  
• Upload dump.sql to CloudPanel and import it:
  

  clpctl db:import --databaseName=my-database --file=dump.sql

  
  
• Update your site's configuration files to reflect the new database credentials and set the base URL to your test subdomain:
  

  https://www1.domain.com

Step 4: Testing Your Migrated Site​

• Thoroughly test your site at:

  https://www1.domain.com

  
  
• Verify functionality, performance, and database integrity.

Step 5: Live Switch with Minimal Downtime​

• On your old server, display a maintenance page to prevent visitor access during migration.
• Re-export any updated content (e.g., media files) and database from your old server:
  

  mysqldump -h127.0.0.1 -u$userName -p --opt --single-transaction --quick $databaseName > dump.sql

  
  
• Import this fresh database dump into CloudPanel again:
  

  clpctl db:import --databaseName=my-database --file=dump.sql

Step 6: Final Testing Using Host File​

Before changing your DNS publicly, test the migrated site locally by modifying your hosts file:


Windows:

• Open text editor as Administrator.
• Edit file:

  C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

  
  
• Add entry:

  your-server-IP  www.domain.com domain.com

  
  
• Save and test your site in a browser at:

  https://www.domain.com

Linux/Mac:

• Edit hosts file:

  sudo nano /etc/hosts

  
  
• Add entry:

  your-server-IP www.domain.com domain.com

  
  
• Save changes and test your website at:

  https://www.domain.com

Step 7: Update DNS Records (Go Live)​

• Change your DNS A records for domain.com and www.domain.com to point to your CloudPanel server IP.
• Disable Basic Authentication to allow public access.
• Remove the temporary hosts file entry created earlier.

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This structured approach ensures a seamless, safe, and minimal-downtime migration to CloudPanel.