Category: Web Development

Transferring phpBB to a New Web Hosting Account

If you need to transfer a phpBB website to a new hosting account, either at a new web host or another account at the same web host, the process usually isn’t too hard. But there are things that can go wrong, so below we go through the important things to do as you are working to accomplish that in way that leads to a smooth transfer.

Test Before You Switch

When doing a transfer like this, the best advice is to do a test of the transfer before you make the final switch over. That way, if any problems come up, you can work on resolving them without having to rush the process.

Transfer the Files

You will need to transfer the files from the old hosting account to the new one. That is usually most easily done using FTP or SFTP to copy the files from the old hosting account to a computer and then copying them from there to the new hosting. That also provides you with a backup of the files.

Transfer the Database

You will need to copy the database from the old hosting account to the new hosting. That is usually done through phpMyAdmin, to export a copy of the database from the old hosting account, and using it to import that copy of the database to a database on the new hosting. Though there may be other options depending on the hosting setup. You will need to create a database on the new server to import the existing database.

Update The Configuration File

Once you have copied the files and the database, you will need to update the phpBB configuration file, /config.php, in the new hosting to have the credentials for the new database.

Plan for a Switch Over

After you have tested out everything and confirmed that it works, plan for a time to switch over to the new hosting. You will need to allocate time for recopying the database and if the files have changed, the files as well. You also need to allocate for the time it will take for the website’s domain name to point to the new web hosting.

You will also want to make sure that access at the old hosting is blocked, so no more changes are being made once you start the final transfer process.

Redo The Transfer and Point The Website’s Domain to New Hosting

Once you have made a final transfer of the database and possibly the files, you need to update the records for the website’s domain name to point to the new server.

Getting Help

If you need help with phpBB, we offer support and we offer a service specifically to handle transfers like this.

Transferring MediaWiki to a New Web Hosting Account

If you need to transfer a MediaWiki website to a new hosting account, either at a new web host or another account at the same web host, the process usually isn’t too hard. But there are things that can go wrong, so below we go through the important things to do as you are working to accomplish that in way that leads to a smooth transfer.

Test Before You Switch

When doing a transfer like this, the best advice is to do a test of the transfer before you make the final switch over. That way, if any problems come up, you can work on resolving them without having to rush the process.

Transfer the Files

You will need to transfer the files from the old hosting account to the new one. That is usually most easily done using FTP or SFTP to copy the files from the old hosting account to a computer and then copying them from there to the new hosting. That also provides you with a backup of the files.

Transfer the Database

You will need to copy the database from the old hosting account to the new hosting. That is usually done through phpMyAdmin, to export a copy of the database from the old hosting account, and using it to import that copy of the database to a database on the new hosting. Though there may be other options depending on the hosting setup. You will need to create a database on the new server to import the existing database.

Update The Configuration File

Once you have copied the files and the database, you will need to update the MediaWiki configuration file, /LocalSettings.php , in the new hosting to have the credentials for the new database.

Plan for a Switch Over

After you have tested out everything and confirmed that it works, plan for a time to switch over to the new hosting. You will need to allocate time for recopying the database and if the files have changed, the files as well. You also need to allocate for the time it will take for the website’s domain name to point to the new web hosting.

You will also want to make sure that access at the old hosting is blocked, so no more changes are being made once you start the final transfer process.

Redo The Transfer and Point The Website’s Domain to New Hosting

Once you have made a final transfer of the database and possibly the files, you need to update the records for the website’s domain name to point to the new server.

Getting Help

If you need help with MediaWiki, we offer support and we offer a service specifically to handle transfers like this.

Transferring Joomla to a New Web Hosting Account

If you need to transfer a Joomla website to a new hosting account, either at a new web host or another account at the same web host, the process usually isn’t too hard. But there are things that can go wrong, so below we go through the important things to do as you are working to accomplish that in way that leads to a smooth transfer.

Test Before You Switch

When doing a transfer like this, the best advice is to do a test of the transfer before you make the final switch over. That way, if any problems come up, you can work on resolving them without having to rush the process.

Transfer the Files

You will need to transfer the files from the old hosting account to the new one. That is usually most easily done using FTP or SFTP to copy the files from the old hosting account to a computer and then copying them from there to the new hosting. That also provides you with a backup of the files.

Transfer the Database

You will need to copy the database from the old hosting account to the new hosting. That is usually done through phpMyAdmin, to export a copy of the database from the old hosting account, and using it to import that copy of the database to a database on the new hosting. Though there may be other options depending on the hosting setup. You will need to create a database on the new server to import the existing database.

Update The Configuration File

Once you have copied the files and the database, you will need to update the Joomla configuration file, /configuration.php, in the new hosting to have the credentials for the new database and the new file system location.

Plan for a Switch Over

After you have tested out everything and confirmed that it works, plan for a time to switch over to the new hosting. You will need to allocate time for recopying the database and if the files have changed, the files as well. You also need to allocate for the time it will take for the website’s domain name to point to the new web hosting.

You will also want to make sure that access at the old hosting is blocked, so no more changes are being made once you start the final transfer process.

Redo The Transfer and Point The Website’s Domain to New Hosting

Once you have made a final transfer of the database and possibly the files, you need to update the records for the website’s domain name to point to the new server.

Getting Help

If you need help with Joomla, we offer support and we offer a service specifically to handle transfers like this.

Transferring PrestaShop to a New Web Hosting Account

If you need to transfer a PrestaShop website to a new hosting account, either at a new web host or another account at the same web host, the process usually isn’t too hard. But there are things that can go wrong, so below we go through the important things to do as you are working to accomplish that in way that leads to a smooth transfer.

Test Before You Switch

When doing a transfer like this, the best advice is to do a test of the transfer before you make the final switch over. That way, if any problems come up, you can work on resolving them without having to rush the process.

Transfer the Files

You will need to transfer the files from the old hosting account to the new one. That is usually most easily done using FTP or SFTP to copy the files from the old hosting account to a computer and then copying them from there to the new hosting. That also provides you with a backup of the files.

Transfer the Database

You will need to copy the database from the old hosting account to the new hosting. That is usually done through phpMyAdmin, to export a copy of the database from the old hosting account, and using it to import that copy of the database to a database on the new hosting. Though there may be other options depending on the hosting setup. You will need to create a database on the new server to import the existing database.

Update The Configuration File

Once you have copied the files and the database, you will need to update the PrestaShop configuration file, which is at /config/settings.inc.php or /app/config/parameters.php depending on the version of PrestaShop in use, in the new hosting to have the credentials for the new database.

Plan for a Switch Over

After you have tested out everything and confirmed that it works, plan for a time to switch over to the new hosting. You will need to allocate time for recopying the database and if the files have changed, the files as well. You also need to allocate for the time it will take for the website’s domain name to point to the new web hosting.

You will also want to make sure that access at the old hosting is blocked, so no more changes are being made once you start the final transfer process.

Redo The Transfer and Point The Website’s Domain to New Hosting

Once you have made a final transfer of the database and possibly the files, you need to update the records for the website’s domain name to point to the new server.

Getting Help

If you need help with PrestaShop, we offer support and we offer a service specifically to handle transfers like this.

Transferring Zen Cart to a New Web Hosting Account

If you need to transfer a Zen Cart website to a new hosting account, either at a new web host or another account at the same web host, the process usually isn’t too hard. But there are things that can go wrong, so below we go through the important things to do as you are working to accomplish that in way that leads to a smooth transfer.

Test Before You Switch

When doing a transfer like this, the best advice is to do a test of the transfer before you make the final switch over. That way, if any problems come up, you can work on resolving them without having to rush the process.

Transfer the Files

You will need to transfer the files from the old hosting account to the new one. That is usually most easily done using FTP or SFTP to copy the files from the old hosting account to a computer and then copying them from there to the new hosting. That also provides you with a backup of the files.

Transfer the Database

You will need to copy the database from the old hosting account to the new hosting. That is usually done through phpMyAdmin, to export a copy of the database from the old hosting account, and using it to import that copy of the database to a database on the new hosting. Though there may be other options depending on the hosting setup. You will need to create a database on the new server to import the existing database.

Update The Configuration File

Once you have copied the files and the database, you will need to update the Zen Cart configuration files, the configure.php files in the /includes/ directory the /includes/ directory in the admin directory, in the new hosting to have the credentials for the new database and the new file system location.

Plan for a Switch Over

After you have tested out everything and confirmed that it works, plan for a time to switch over to the new hosting. You will need to allocate time for recopying the database and if the files have changed, the files as well. You also need to allocate for the time it will take for the website’s domain name to point to the new web hosting.

You will also want to make sure that access at the old hosting is blocked, so no more changes are being made once you start the final transfer process.

Redo The Transfer and Point The Website’s Domain to New Hosting

Once you have made a final transfer of the database and possibly the files, you need to update the records for the website’s domain name to point to the new server.

Getting Help

If you need help with Zen Cart, we offer support and we offer a service specifically to handle transfers like this.

Transferring SuiteCRM to a New Web Hosting Account

If you need to transfer a SuiteCRM website to a new hosting account, either at a new web host or another account at the same web host, the process usually isn’t too hard. But there are things that can go wrong, so below we go through the important things to do as you are working to accomplish that in way that leads to a smooth transfer.

Test Before You Switch

When doing a transfer like this, the best advice is to do a test of the transfer before you make the final switch over. That way, if any problems come up, you can work on resolving them without having to rush the process.

Transfer the Files

You will need to transfer the files from the old hosting account to the new one. That is usually most easily done using FTP or SFTP to copy the files from the old hosting account to a computer and then copying them from there to the new hosting. That also provides you with a backup of the files.

Transfer the Database

You will need to copy the database from the old hosting account to the new hosting. That is usually done through phpMyAdmin, to export a copy of the database from the old hosting account, and using it to import that copy of the database to a database on the new hosting. Though there may be other options depending on the hosting setup. You will need to create a database on the new server to import the existing database.

Update The Configuration File

Once you have copied the files and the database, you will need to update the SuiteCRM configuration file, config.php, in the new hosting to have the credentials for the new database.

Plan for a Switch Over

After you have tested out everything and confirmed that it works, plan for a time to switch over to the new hosting. You will need to allocate time for recopying the database and if the files have changed, the files as well. You also need to allocate for the time it will take for the website’s domain name to point to the new web hosting.

You will also want to make sure that access at the old hosting is blocked, so no more changes are being made once you start the final transfer process.

Redo The Transfer and Point The Website’s Domain to New Hosting

Once you have made a final transfer of the database and possibly the files, you need to update the records for the website’s domain name to point to the new server.

Getting Help

If you need help with SuiteCRM, we offer support and we offer a service specifically to handle transfers like this.

How to Change the Email Address that WPForms Lite Sends Contact Form Submissions To

As part of helping to deal with a problem where a contact form done through the WordPress plugin WPForms Lite wasn’t getting sent to the intended email address, we had to figure out how to change the email address the submissions get sent to. It isn’t the most clear process, so for those that have more trouble than us, here are the steps to take to change that:

  1. Log in to WordPress
  2. Go to the plugin’s All Forms page
  3. Click the Edit link for the relevant form
  4. Click on the Setting menu
  5. Click on the Notifications submenu
  6. Change the Send To Email Address setting to the desired email address.

Getting Help

If you need help with this type of problem or another problem with your WordPress website, we offer a support service to help.

Why a WordPress Contact Page Isn’t Emailing the Submissions

We were recently helping someone deal with an issue where they were not receiving emails for submissions to the contact page of their WordPress website. There are a multitude of different ways contact form submissions are handled and different ways that could go wrong, but there are three principal problems that lie at the heart of that to sort through if you have that problem. Let’s go through those.

The Contact Form Isn’t Working

The first problem is that the contact form isn’t working. So first make sure that when making a submission, it returns a response that the submission has been successful.

Depending on what plugin you are using to handle contact form submissions, the plugin may store a copy of the submissions. Or there may be an additional plugin you can add that will store submissions. If that is an option, that will allow you to make sure the submissions are really getting through and being processed.

Emails Are Not Being Sent

If the contact form is working, the next possible problem is that emails are not being sent. If you are receiving other emails from the website, you can rule that out. If you are not sure about that, you can use a plugin to test if emails are being sent. You can also use a plugin that logs emails being sent to confirm if emails are being sent.

Emails Are not Being Received

If you know that emails are being sent, then the problem that could be that they are not being received at the intended email address.

One way to test this is to try having the emails sent to another email address at a different email provider. That gives a good chance of seeing if there is a problem related to the email account. It could be that it trips a spam filter.

In the situation we were helping with, it turned out that the email account wasn’t receiving the submissions, but when switching to another account, the emails went through.

Getting Help

If you need help with this type of problem or another problem with your WordPress website, we offer a support service to help.

Bluehost’s New Account Management Interface Seems Rather Broken

We were recently dealing with what should be a fairly standard piece of work for us, transferring a website to a new VPS. That turned out to be a lot more complicated by a change made recently at the web host Bluehost. They replaced their long used account management interface. This causes a couple of problems we wanted to share in case others run in to problems as well and are wondering if they are alone in that.

First, we found that some of their support documents still are written for the old interface. One of those has instructions for something that isn’t even possible with the new interface. Our client contacted their support team about that and was told that it was no longer relevant, but the document is still up over a week later.

Second, we found that the interface seems rather broken. We found features that only worked some of the time. When we were trying to make a simple change, we found that the interface wasn’t showing information that it should have been showing. It isn’t a good situation.

Moving to Squarespace Isn’t Like Migrating a Website to a New Host

We recently had someone contact us looking to move their website to Squarespace. They believed that doing that is like migrating a website to a new web host, but it is very different.

Squarespace is not a web host, but a website builder. With a web host, you would create a website based on software you install in the hosting account. You can then move that to another web host as long as their hosting system is compatible with the software. With Squarespace, your website is created in their own software. So you can’t transfer an existing website to them and you can’t transfer a Squarespace built website to another web host.

When moving your website to Squarespace, you are largely starting over. Depending on what you are moving from, you can automatically move some content over to it, but otherwise everything needs to be redone.