Prerequisites

• An account created on https://cp.blacknighthosting.com
• WordPress hosting plan bought from https://www.blacknight.com/web-hosting/
• Domain name - This would have either been registered, transferred or simply declared when purchasing the hosting plan.

This guide assumes that you have a WordPress website. The process is mostly the same for other applications. If you are not sure, please contact the Blacknight Support team.

Downloading

To transfer your website, you are going to need an FTP client such as FileZilla in order to download and upload your files.

If you do not know your FTP details, go to the following on the old Blacknight Hosting Platform at https://cp.blacknight.com :

• Websites > ‘FTP Access’. Take note of the IP Address here.

• Users > ‘Add New User’

• Create the details from within here. Take note of them.

Identifying Website Locations

Once you have the FTP details, we will need find where your site is. On the old Blacknight Hosting Platform, there are 2 locations where your site could be, Web Applications or Uploaded Manually:

To check to see where your site is hosted, first go to:

• Websites > Web Applications

Is there an entry here? It would more than likely show 123456 - WordPress - example.com - /

• If ‘Yes’ - Take note of the ID number at the beginning 123456 We will need this number later on when we connect to FTP.
• If ‘No’ - Go back to Website > File Manager
  • Are your website files in here?
    • If ‘Yes’ - Great, these can be downloaded.
    • If ‘No’ - Your site may be hosted elsewhere.
    • (If you are unsure, contact the Blacknight Support team)

Downloading your website files

If your files are either in the Web Applications or have been uploaded manually, open up your FTP Client.

• Your Host is the IP Address that you noted earlier
• Your username and password that you created.
• Port should be the default value of 21

Once you are connected, you will need to go to one of 2 locations:

• Uploaded Manually - webspace > httpdocs > example.com
• Web Applications - webspace > siteapps > WordPress-123456 > htdocs
  • (Note: Older installs of WordPress may not say WordPress but just the number 123456)

On the left-hand-side window in FileZilla, you will need to create a folder where you can store your files. You can decide where you want to place them.

Highlight all the files and folders and drag-and-drop from the right, to the left.

At the bottom of the screen, you will see the files transferring. Wait until this is completed.

Uploading

To upload your website, you are going to need your FTP Client (FileZilla) and the FTP details.

To get the FTP details on the new Blacknight Hosting Platform at https://cp.blacknighthosting.com, go to:

• Services > My Services
• Click on Website Hosting
• Click on cPanel to log into the web hosting panel.
• Click on FTP Accounts
  • Give it a username - e.g.: john or alice or whatever one-word name you wish.
  • Give it a strong password.
  • Leave Directory alone
• Click Create FTP Account
• Ignore the FTP Server listed here, click the cPanel logo on the top left and look on the right for the Shared IP Address, It may begin with 78.153.X.X

In FileZilla:

• Host 78.153.X.X
• Username:username@domain.com
• Password: *****
• Port: 21
• Upload your files in here. Wait for this to complete.

Now:

• In cPanel, go to File Manager
• Go to your domain on the left, then the username of the FTP user that you set up
• Click **Select All** at the top to highlight all the files and folders.
• Drag them into the public_html folder to move them in there.

Moving the Database

To go alongside your website, you would generally have a database, so we’ll need to move that too.

In the old Blacknight Hosting Platform at https://cp.blacknight.com, go to:

• More Services > Databases
• Select your database
  • (If you do not know what this this, check the wp-config.php file from the files that you downloaded. It would be beside DB_NAME)
• Click on Browse Database Manager
• Click on the database name on the left-hand side
• Then click Export at the top.
• Click Go to start the download.

You have now downloaded the database. Now to upload to the new Blacknight Hosting Platform https://cp.blacknighthosting.com

• Services > My Services

• Click on Website Hosting

• Click on cPanel to log into the web hosting panel.

• Click on MySQL® Databases

• Enter a name for the database and click on Create Database

  • Take Note of the name of the database including the bit at the start name_

• Click Go back and scroll down to Add User to Database

• A user should already be present in the User dropdown and the Database should have the name of the database that you just created. Click Add. 

• Go back to the front page of cPanel by clicking on the cPanel logo at the top.

• Click on phpMyAdmin

• Just like before, click on the database name on the left-hand side.
• Click on Import at the top
• Choose the file that you downloaded and click Go on the bottom right.

Now you will need to associate your website with the new database details.

Go back to your File Manager and edit the wp-config.php

• Replace the DB_NAME value with the database name
• Replace the DB_USER value with the Database user name
• Replace the DB_PASSWORD value with the Password
• Replace the DB_HOST with localhost
• Either upload your changes to the same place that you uploaded the files.

Now your site should be working on the new Blacknight Hosting Platform.

Install the SSL Certificate

You may want to also move over your SSL Certificate. If you already have the Certificate Files and Private Keys, you can go to the following on the new Blacknight Hosting Platform https://cp.blacknighthosting.com

• Services > My Services
• Click on Website Hosting
• Click on cPanel to log into the web hosting panel.
• Click on SSL/TLS
• Find the heading INSTALL AND MANAGE SSL FOR YOUR SITE (HTTPS)
  • Click Manage SSL sites.
• Choose the Domain.
• Paste in the Certificate.
• Paste in the Private Key.
• Paste in the CA-Bundle file.
• Click Install Certificate

Change the DNS Records

The last part is to change the DNS Records to point to the new server. 
Earlier, in the Uploading section, you would have noted down the IP Address, Username and Password for FTP. We'll use this IP address to point the domain to the new server.

The following assumes that the domain and the Nameservers are with Blacknight. 
If you are using a 3rd party DNS Provider like CloudFlare, Microsoft or AWS, you will need to add the record on there.

Go to the following within the Blacknight Control Panel https://cp.blacknighthosting.com 

• Domains >> Manage DNS Records
• Click the pencil beside your domain name.
• In here, you will have the following record:
  • Name: @
  • Type: A
  • TTL: 3600
  • RData: 123.123.123.123 (This is just an example)
• And the 2nd record
  • Name: www
  • Type: A
  • TTL: 3600
  • RData: 123.123.123.123 (This is just an example)
• Click on the pencil on the right of each of these 2 records, and replace the 123.123.123.123 number with the IP Address that you noted down before from the Uploading section.
• Click Confirm.
• Within an hour or two, the website on the new server will go live. 

If you have any issues with the above instructions, please contact us https://www.blacknight.com/contact/