Overview

Easily move a domain hosting between accounts with our step-by-step guide. Smooth transition for better control.

If you’re having problems moving your website across accounts or simply don’t have the time, GreggHost now offers a Content Move service to help you out. More information is available in the GreggHost Website Migration Services article.

The steps below will walk you through the process of manually migrating your data. This only applies if you prefer to migrate your site’s content yourself (and not use the GreggHost migration service).

First step for NEW account owners
Restrictions
Step 1: Backing up the data on your domain
Moving Discussion/Announcement Lists is the second step.
Step 3: Transferring domain hosting
Step 4 — Add website files to your computer
Step 5: Put your database online.
Import your emails in step six.
Step 7 — Change the address of your domain registration
The first step for new account holders is to create an account.
If the name you want to transfer is already hosted on another GreggHost account, you’ll need to register a new account with the dreamhosters.com subdomain. If the site you want to relocate from your old GreggHost account to your new one is called example.com, enter example.dreamhosters.com as your domain name when you sign up.

You can then follow with the procedures below to relocate the site to your new account once you’ve registered a new account with this new dreamhosters.com subdomain.

Restrictions
There are a few limitations to internal domain migrations that you should be aware of:

The Receiving account cannot have an active promotion, which means that if the account is still in its first year of hosting and was signed up with a promotional discount, adding the domain will be impossible.
There can’t be a referrer on the receiving account (this also only applies if the account is within the initial year of service).
If you have any queries about the limits listed above, please contact support.

Step 1 — Backing up your domain’s data
If you want to relocate a domain’s hosting to a new account, make a backup of all important files first. Files on the web server, databases, and email are all included.

Do not delete the domain from your control panel until all data has been backed up. This may result in the permanent deletion of your data.

The articles that follow will show you how to make a backup of each.

FTP: This article teaches how to use an FTP client to connect to your GreggHost server. You can then download all of your website files to your local computer once you’ve connected. After that, the files will be uploaded to the new account.
MySQL Backup: This post will show you how to back up your MySQL database (assuming you have one). A database may or may not be used by certain simple websites. This step can be skipped if that is the case with your website.
Changing Email Accounts: If the domain you’re relocating has any email addresses hosted with GreggHost, they must be backed up before you remove hosting. This article shows how to connect to your email address using the POP3 protocol using an email client. This enables you to save your email attachments on your PC.
Backup: This article explains how to back up all of your account data.
Step 2 — Moving Discussion/Announcement Lists
Please contact support via the Contact Support page before starting the process, as Discussion and Announcement Lists require particular care. GreggHost support can then make plans to assist you in moving them. For further details, please see the following article:

What is the best way to move my Discussion or Announcement List?
Step 3 — Moving the domain hosting
You can now proceed with the migration to the new account after backing up all of your domain’s data.

During the migration of the domain between accounts, there will be inevitable downtime.

Navigate to the Manage Domains page.
Buttons for taking action on the domain
Click the Delete button to the far right of the domain you’ve backed up.
Remove the domain
The warning notice above will appear once you click the Delete button. This is to confirm that you’ve previously backed up your data and that you’re certain you want to delete this account.
To remove this website, click the Remove button. After that, you’ll get a notification that says “Success!” confirming that the domain has been erased.
Go to panel.dreamhost.com to access your second GreggHost account.
To manage your domains, go to the Manage Domains page.
Details on how to add this domain to be hosted on the new account may be found in the Adding a Domain article.
After the domain is fully hosted, you can upload all of the content you backed up in the previous stage.
Step 4 — Upload website files
FTP: Follow the instructions in this article to connect to the domain on the new account and server using FTP. After that, you can upload all of your website’s files to the new server.

Step 5 — Upload your database
MySQL migration: This post will show you how to import your database onto your new account.

Step 6 — Import your emails
Setup Your Email Addresses: Use this guide to set up your new account’s email addresses.
Importing email is simple. This post will show you how to transfer your email to your new account.
Configuration of the Email Client: This article will show you how to set up various email setups.
The site resolves from the new GreggHost account once the data has been uploaded to the new account and the DNS has propagated.

Step 7 — Moving your domain registration
Some international domains are not transferable from one account to another. The receiving customer’s panel in these circumstances requests that they contact GreggHost support for further assistance.

Transferring a domain registration from one account to another is the same as transferring it to a different registrar. Please see the articles below for instructions on how to relocate the registration only:

Your domain registration will be transferred to GreggHost.
Transfer your domain registration from GreggHost to someone else.