Migrating your site to Byytes without downtime

Moving a live site between hosts is the part people worry about most, but downtime is avoidable if you keep the old site running until the new one is confirmed working. Here's the order that keeps a migration boring, in the good sense.

Let us do it, or do it yourself

Every Byytes plan includes a free migration. Open a migration request from your account panel with your current host's login details, and our team copies your files, databases, and email over, then confirms with you before anything switches. Most site migrations finish within 24 hours. If you'd rather move it yourself, or you're migrating something custom, follow the steps below.

1. Set up the new site first, before touching DNS

Provision your Byytes plan and get your site fully working there before you point your domain at it. You can access your new site directly through its temporary URL or IP address, so there's no rush, your live domain keeps serving traffic from the old host the entire time.

2. Copy files and the database

• Export your database from the old host (phpMyAdmin's Export tab, or a command-line dump).
• Download your site files via FTP/SFTP, or use a plugin migration tool if you're on WordPress.
• Upload the files and import the database on your new Byytes account.
• Update the site's config file (for WordPress, wp-config.php) with the new database name, user, and password from your Byytes panel.

3. Test on the temporary URL

Before changing anything public-facing, browse the new copy using your Byytes temporary URL, or by editing your computer's local hosts file to preview it under your real domain name without affecting other visitors. Check that pages load, forms submit, images appear, and logins work.

4. Lower your DNS TTL in advance

A day or two before the switch, log in to wherever your DNS is currently managed and lower the TTL (time to live) on your A records to something short, like 300 seconds. This makes the eventual cutover propagate faster once you do change it.

5. Switch DNS, then watch both sites

Update your domain's records to point at Byytes (see our domain & DNS guide for exact values). Keep the old hosting account active for at least a week, some visitors and search engines will still be resolving the old IP for a while as DNS propagates.

6. Move email last

If you're also moving email, switch MX records only after the web migration is confirmed stable, and forward or export any mail from the old provider first so nothing sent during the transition gets lost.