How To Transfer Hosting To Hawkhost

Moving a website from one hosting provider to another can feel intimidating—especially if your site is already live and you don’t want downtime. The good news is that transferring hosting is usually straightforward when you follow a careful, step-by-step process. In this guide, you’ll learn how to move your website to Hawkhost with minimal risk and a clear checklist you can trust.

Whether you’re switching because of performance, pricing, or support, the key is planning first: confirm what you’re migrating (files, databases, emails), prepare your domain settings, and test everything before going live.

What You Need Before You Start

Before touching anything, gather the essentials:

1. Your Hawkhost login details
   • Access to your hosting control panel (often cPanel or a similar platform, depending on your plan).
2. Access to your current hosting account
   • FTP/SFTP credentials and your control panel credentials.
3. Your domain registration details
   • Where your domain’s DNS is managed (name servers at the registrar, or DNS inside your current hosting).
4. A list of what’s running on your site
   • Content management system (WordPress, Joomla, custom PHP site, etc.)
   • Any add-ons: email accounts, caching plugins, SSL certificates, cron jobs, etc.
5. Time for a test migration
   • If your provider offers staging, use it. If not, you can still “test” by using a temporary domain or hosts file method.

If you know your site is WordPress, that can simplify things—but even non-WordPress sites follow the same overall migration logic: export files + export database + import them into the new host.

Step-by-Step: Transfer Your Website to Hawkhost

1) Back up your current website

Start by creating backups of everything you might need:

• Website files (themes, plugins, uploads, custom code)
• Database (usually MySQL/MariaDB)
• Email (optional, depending on what you use)

Most hosts let you download a full site backup or export files via File Manager. For a safer approach, also export the database using phpMyAdmin or a database backup tool.

Tip: Keep a local copy of:

• the SQL database dump
• a zip/tar archive of your site files

These give you a safety net if anything goes wrong.

2) Prepare Hawkhost hosting

Log in to Hawkhost and ensure your hosting environment matches what your website expects. Do the following:

• Create the database and database user
• Note the database name, username, and password
• Confirm the PHP version (especially important for older sites)
• Ensure required extensions are available (common ones: mysqli, curl, mbstring, gd, zip)

If you’re moving a WordPress site, also check whether Hawkhost supports your caching or security plugins properly.

3) Upload your site files

Now transfer the website files to Hawkhost.

You have a few options:

• File Manager upload (good for small to medium sites)
• FTP/SFTP transfer (often better for large sites)
• SSH + command-line tools (advanced, but efficient)

When uploading, make sure you place files in the correct directory, typically:

• public_html/ (or the folder the domain points to)

Important: Uploading into the wrong folder is one of the most common migration mistakes. If your old host served from a subfolder (for example, public_html/example), replicate the same structure.

4) Import your database

Next, import your SQL database dump into the new Hawkhost database.

1. Open Hawkhost’s database tools (commonly phpMyAdmin).
2. Select the new database.
3. Use the Import feature.
4. Choose your .sql backup file and start the import.

After importing, confirm:

• The database tables exist
• The import finished without errors
• The site data looks intact (quick check via phpMyAdmin)

5) Update connection settings (WordPress and other scripts)

Your site currently points to the old database connection details. Update those to match Hawkhost.

• For WordPress, edit wp-config.php:
  • DB_NAME
  • DB_USER
  • DB_PASSWORD
  • DB_HOST (usually localhost, but verify)
• For other PHP applications, find the config file that contains database credentials and update those values.

Once updated, your website should be able to communicate with the new database.

6) Update URLs (if needed)

Even after database import, your site may still reference old URLs in the database (especially on WordPress). If you notice issues like:

• links not working
• images missing
• page redirects broken

You may need to update stored URLs.

For WordPress, this can often be handled via:

• updating WordPress Address/Home URLs in the admin panel, or
• using a search-and-replace approach (many hosts include tools, or plugins/scripts are used)

If your migration keeps the same domain and protocol (e.g., https://example.com stays the same), URL issues are less common. But if you change protocol (HTTP to HTTPS), or change domains, you’ll likely need to update URLs.

7) SSL certificate setup (HTTPS)

If your site uses HTTPS, you’ll want it to work right away.

Depending on Hawkhost’s offerings, you may be able to:

• install an SSL certificate via the control panel
• enable “Auto SSL” or Let’s Encrypt
• upload your existing certificate if you already have one

After SSL is enabled:

• test the HTTPS version in a browser
• confirm there are no mixed-content issues (HTTP images/scripts on an HTTPS page)

8) Configure email (optional but often forgotten)

If you use email on your domain, migration requires more than moving website files.

You’ll need to:

• create the same email accounts on Hawkhost (e.g., [email protected])
• ensure mail server settings are correct
• update DNS records for mail routing (MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC)

If you’re migrating nameservers at the registrar, DNS changes may propagate gradually, which can temporarily affect email delivery. Planning around this reduces surprises.

DNS Cutover: Point Your Domain to Hawkhost

Once files and databases are working correctly, you can switch your domain over.

There are two common methods:

Option A: Use Hawkhost name servers

If Hawkhost provided nameservers, update them at your domain registrar to point to Hawkhost.

• DNS propagation can take anywhere from a few minutes to 24–48 hours depending on TTL settings.
• During propagation, visitors may see either old or new content.

Option B: Update DNS records only

If you prefer not to change name servers, update the relevant DNS records:

• A record(s) to point to Hawkhost’s server IP
• CNAME records (for www and subdomains)
• Mail records (MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC) for email

If you’re unsure which method fits your setup, check Hawkhost’s guidance or ask their support—most hosts have clear instructions.

Guide (Quick Checklist for a Smooth Transfer)

Here’s a condensed checklist you can follow in order:

1. Backup files + database on the current host
2. Create database/user on Hawkhost
3. Upload website files to the correct directory
4. Import the SQL database into Hawkhost
5. Update site config to use new database credentials
6. Fix any URL references if necessary
7. Enable SSL/HTTPS
8. If using email, set up email accounts + DNS records
9. Test the site on Hawkhost (temporary access if possible)
10. Update DNS or nameservers
11. Monitor after cutover for broken links, SSL warnings, or missing assets

Pros / Cons of Migrating to Hawkhost

Pros

• Straightforward migration path if your site is WordPress or a standard PHP/MySQL setup.
• Control panel support typically makes file/database tasks easier.
• Good performance potential once DNS is pointed correctly.
• You can reduce downtime by preparing everything first and cutting over carefully.

Cons

• DNS propagation time means cutover isn’t always instantaneous.
• Email migration adds complexity (MX/SPF/DKIM/DMARC need correct configuration).
• SSL issues can appear if your site still forces old certificate settings or redirects incorrectly.
• URL or path mismatches can happen if your previous host used a non-standard directory structure.

Final Thoughts Before You Hit “Switch”

The safest migrations happen in two phases: prepare and test first, then switch DNS when you’re confident everything is working. If you can, schedule the cutover during low-traffic hours and keep backups ready.

If anything looks off after the move—like a blank page, broken database connection, missing images, or login issues—don’t panic. Most problems come from one of these areas:

• wrong database credentials
• files uploaded to the wrong folder
• missing PHP extension support
• outdated config or URLs
• SSL/DNS not fully applied yet

With this process, you’ll have a solid chance of a smooth transfer to Hawkhost and a working site for your visitors with minimal disruption.

🚀 Sign Up for hawkhost

Register for hawkhost here to receive a “lifetime discount” of up to 20%