Self Migration

Until recently, the only way to get really started on WP Engine was to sign up for an account and wait for us to perform a migration. While we still offer this migration for a fee, we’ve decided to put the power back in your hands to get the work done.

Sign Up

When you sign up for WP Engine, you are asked to provide a domain (if applicable), an account name and a password, as well as email address. This process registers you in the system and sends an email to your account with the relevant information necessary to connect to our servers.

This “bootstrap” also deploys a fresh WordPress install for you. Access information is also included in your welcome email.

Once you have successfully logged into WordPress, you can start blogging (if this is a new blog) or begin the process of migrating your blog from it’s current home to its new home on WP Engine.

Migrating Data

There are two ways to bring a blog over. The first is to utilize the WordPress importer. We bundle this as a plugin, so you don’t have to do anything except browse to Tools > Import and select WordPress. You’ll have to, however, export your blog from your old host. You can do this under the Tools > Export menu. The resulting export file can be used on WP Engine to import. Follow the import steps. You can perform this import multiple times, if you happen to encounter problems, without getting duplicate posts.

The second method of migration involves a database dump. If you have a database dump from your current host, then you can perform this migration. To do so, visit your customer portal and click on “Admin MySQL”. That will drop you right into phpMyAdmin where you can import and manage your database.

NOTE: This blows away your WP Engine database and replaces it with your existing WordPress database.

Once this process has completed, edit the wp-config.php file (you have to do this over SFTP) to match any differences (leave database access credentials alone!) between your old site and new site. If you have a different table prefix, match this up.

You should find that your WP Engine username and password no longer exists in your WordPress install but that your actual username and password on your blog should work fine.

Moving Files

Finally, regardless of which approach you take to migration, make sure you upload your files to the server. Usually in a migration, I upload the wp-content folder ONLY and any special files or folders that may be non-core. These are frequently an images folder, a favicon.ico file, sitemap files, etc. Never, ever, ever remove your wp-config.php file. If you do, puppies may see an early demise.

If you have any support questions along the way, we can help at support@wpengine.com and we can also help with paid migrations where we do the work for you.

DNS and Testing

Finally, add the following two constants to your wp-config.php file temporarily for testing:

1 2	define('WP_HOME','http://account_name.wpengine.com'); define('WP_SITEURL','http://account_name.wpengine.com');

Make sure you substitute account_name for your WP Engine account name. This will allow you to preview your site before switching DNS. You will still have to update your DNS as described here. Both of these things must happen in order for a proper switchover to occur.

We’re always working on ways to improve this process. Do you have suggestions or comments? Please email us at support@wpengine.com.