If you don't want to use our free migration service, you can migrate your site yourself manually via FTP and the database management.

How to complete a manual migration:
​Step 1: Create a new Demo Box
​Step 2: Replace the wp-content file on your Demo Box

Step 3: Create a database dump
​Step 4: Upload your database dump to Raidboxes
​Step 5: Change your database table prefix
​Step 6: Debugging

You need a new Demo Box in your Raidboxes account to manually transfer all your WordPress website data. Simply log in to your Raidboxes Dashboard and click on Create new Box.

Important: When you create a new Box, you also choose the login details for it in the process. Please make a note of the login details you set for the Box.

Three actions need to be taken here:

Firstly, connect to your current FTP server. There are many ways to do this but the most common one is to use an FTP client such as FileZilla.

Now, connect to the FTP server of your live site and go to the WordPress directory of your WordPress installation. You will find the wp-content file towards the top.

Note: The WordPress folder of your site may have a different name. It may be called, for example, public_html, web, www, wp or wordpress. If you're not sure which file contains your WordPress installation, please contact your current host. They will be able to tell you exactly where your WordPress site is located.

Select the file wp-content, right-click on it and choose the option Download.

The wp-content file is then automatically saved to your download folder.

Disconnect from the FTP server of your live site and connect to the Raidboxes SFTP server.

All the information you need to connect to the SFTP server can be found in the Demo Box overview in the Raidboxes Dashboard.

Tip: If you ever forget your Raidboxes password, just use the Lost password function on the login screen.

When connected to the Raidboxes SFTP server, go to the Box files.

Drag and drop the wp-content file you copied from your current live site from the left pane to the wordpress file in the right pane.

A window will open where you need to confirm that you want to overwrite the existing file on your Demo Box with the new one from your current live site. Select the action Overwrite and check the box Always use this action.

Important: An additional window may appear warning you about the certificate. Simply select Always trust certificate and click on OK.

Depending on the size of your wp-content file, it may take a little while for the file to be overwritten.

Now you need to make a copy of your database, also known as a Dump. Connect to the database at your current hosting provider.

Now create a dump of your website and export it as an SQL file.

Log in to your Raidboxes Dashboard and go to your Box overview

Important: If you are not using an empty Box, make sure you create a manual backup before you move on to the next steps. Go to the backup area in your Box overview and click on Create manual backup.

Next, click on Login in the MySQL-Database area of your Demo Box overview.

You are now in the database management area of your Box. Before you upload the SQL file, you need to delete the existing database from your Box. Highlight all the tables by clicking the select all checkbox at the top and confirm the deletion with Drop.

You now have a completely empty database into which you can upload your database dump. Click on Import, choose the dump and make sure the option Stop on error is unchecked. It is important that this option is not selected.

Click on Execute to start the import.

Note: The upload limit for database dumps is 2 GB. Timeouts may even occur for larger websites under 2 GB. If you encounter this issue, please use a different migration option or, if you have previous experience, try uploading via SSH.

Important: Don't worry if any errors are flagged during the import. You can simply document the errors, for example with screenshots, and move on to step 5. You should only debug these errors after the site has been completely migrated.

The next step is to change the table prefix. Go to your Box Settings, click on WordPress in the menu on the left and then on WP Table Prefix.

Enter the prefix of the database you just uploaded in the Table Prefix field and confirm with Change prefix. Your website should now be available.

Tip: If you don't know what the prefix of your database is, open the database administration and search for the postmeta table. Your database prefix is all the characters in front of postmeta. In the example below, the prefix would be wp_zkhsljgril_

Incompatibilities can, unfortunately, occur after a migration. If you do encounter any issues, please contact our Support.

If you have experience in this area, e.g. as a developer, you can activate the Debug Log and test all the functions of your site. The Debug Log may allow you to identify the issue directly.