Making the Switch to Webcentral

Thank you for choosing us to be the home for your next big idea, online store or those all important personalised email addresses!

Just like moving house, there are a multitude of things to consider when moving your hosting or domain to us.
We would like to make the process as easy as possible, so have prepared a checklist or things to prepare.

Lets go over the checklist in a bit more detail:

Check what you actually need to move
Domains, DNS, Website and Emails can all be supplied from different providers. If you are happy with one aspect of your current hosting, you are more than welcome to keep it! Just keep in mind, you will have to alter some DNS records to get things working.

Choosing a plan
Once you have confirmed what you would like to host with us, it's time to choose a plan. We have many plans ranging from a Starter cPanel, moving into Wordpress-specific plans with a special dashboard, all the way to Unmanaged servers for when you want to take complete control.
Once you have the plan locked in, you can browse any introductory offers available and make the purchase, its at this stage you either select a domain name to be registered or enter one in that you want to be transferred to us.
If you don't have an account already, don't worry you can set one up as part of the checkout process.

DNS
DNS is what makes the world-wide-web go round, so DNS is one of the most important things to consider to minimise downtime and ensuring that the move to Webcentral goes smoothly. You should have the inbuilt DNS editor right at the top of your portal, but fore more control we offer Advanced Domain Manager.
If you are using cPanel, you can replicate the records on the cPanel with us, then when you are ready switch them to  

ns1.mysecurecloudhost.com
 ns2.mysecurecloudhost.com
ns3.mysecurecloudhost.com
ns4.mysecurecloudhost.com

Protip: many domain name TLDs lock the domain upon transfer/after a change to the contact information so you may not be able to update where the domain is delegated to right after.

Files
If you have cPanel, great news, we can migrate the files for you! Once the plan is all setup and before changing name servers, please raise a ticket or give us a call to get some details from you.
If you have a different Linux based hosting service, not to worry, the process is pretty straightforward, you just need to ensure you get the databases, files, resources required for your website, then upload them to your new hosting service. Because of the file-manager upload limitations, you please use FTP clients for large files.

Emails
If we do a migration from your current cPanel to ours, the emails should come across smoothly.
If you prefer to do it yourself or have a MS365/SmarterMail/GSuite type service, you can utilise online tools that sync mailboxes or backup the email accounts to a file using an application and then importing once the accounts are setup again. If you are keeping your current mail provider, retrieve any Zone Records (MX, authentication TXT records) that will need to be replicated.

Backups, Backups, Backups
It is always best practice to have backups or important emails and files, but becomes crucial during a migration and when cancelling services. Ensure you perform a full backup and store it in a safe location to stop any additional costs from your previous provider to retrieve a backup or if the worse were to happen.

Domain transfer
To keep things all in one place, and to make troubleshooting even easier, you can elect to transfer your domain to us and have us as your registrar. Ensure you have your registrant-contact details up to date. To start the transfer, just hop into the cart, select domain name enter you domain name exactly how its registered and then click transfer. You will be prompted for your Domain Password (or EPP code as it's sometimes known). If you have a .CO.UK domain, please get in touch so we can supply our IPS-TAG and accept the transfer.
If you want to start on your venture, you could also snag yourself a free new domain registration with some of our hosting plans.

Cancelling your old service
Once you are settled in, with the DNS records working properly, emails setup, website loading and you have a backup you should be able to cancel your service with your previous provider.

Of course, each business is unique so use this as a starting point and be sure to include things that are specific to your needs, like cloning the website, testing before going to production, checking your add-on domains and setting up custom name servers if you have a VPS service. We are here to help with ensuring the server is setup and working 24/7 so don't hesitate to reach out to our team.