1. Getting Started

Efficient allocation of resources is one of the ways we keep costs down for all members. Therefore, free sites will be archived after 21 days unless a permanent domain has been added to the site and set as the Primary domain, or the site’s Hub has been visited at least once per 21 days.

Members are notified by email at least seven days before a site is archived and can prevent that from happening for another 21-days simply by clicking a link in that email. There is no limit to the number of times members can extend that 21-day period and sites that have been archived can be reactivated within 30 days by contacting support, or see Restoring a Deleted Site below.

Note that if you have added a custom domain and set it as the Primary domain, it may still get archived if that domain’s DNS records are not resolving properly. Please review our Domains documentation for troubleshooting tips, and don’t hesitate to contact our support superheroes for help with this or any other issue you may be having.

Do you have sites that you want to migrate to WPMU DEV? Let us do the migration for you, and earn up to 6 months of free hosting depending on the number of sites to be migrated. And we’ll give you a free .com domain as well.

Hosting Migration Process

1. Fill in the hosting migration enquiry form.
2. We will review your enquiry and provide you with an offer.
3. To start the migration process, we will ask you to provide us with the details we need to migrate your sites, such as your SFTP and WordPress admin credentials.
4. We’ll credit your account with the amount needed for our hosting team to create your temporary domains (migration destination).
5. Once you’ve checked all is good after the migration, have added your own custom domain to each site, and adjusted the domain DNS, we’ll credit your account with the amount of free hosting offered.

FAQ

How long will it take to migrate my site?
The entire migration process usually takes 24 hours to complete. It might take longer if you have a large number of sites to migrate.

Will my site be down during the migration process?
While pointing your DNS to our servers, there may be some intermittent downtime. DNS propagation can happen instantly in certain cases, but it can also take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours.

Will my site be fully functional after the migration?
Yes, the migration should not affect your site’s functionality in any way. As your site will be migrated to a temporary URL, you will have the opportunity to check the site functionality before adding your custom domain.

Are there any limitations on the number of sites you offer to migrate?
No, we are happy to migrate any number of sites you have.

If you have more questions related to this offer, please feel free to contact our sales team.

The WPMU DEV migration tool is a server-to-server via (S)FTP process that is much more robust than any PHP-driven (i.e., plugin) migration.

The migration tool is also far less susceptible to timeout issues than PHP. Additionally, it handles all file transfers and redefines URLs in one smooth process that doesn’t involve programs or utilities that many users seldom use. As long as the source server isn’t afflicted with FTP issues, it would take the Mario Andretti of web admins to perform a faster, safer migration.

Note that this chapter is a guide on how to automatically create a new WPMU DEV hosted site and migrate your existing 3rd-party hosted site into it.

If you already have a WPMU DEV hosted site that you want to use as the destination site for your migration, you can use the Migrate Existing Site option under the Hosting > Tools tab in your Hub instead.

Create a New WPMU DEV Site for Migration

From the My Sites overview screen, click the + Add Site button at top-right to add a new site.

Then select the Migrate option.

A modal window will pop open where you’ll be prompted to select the site you wish to migrate. The dropdown will reveal a list of all the sites currently connected to The Hub. If the site you wish to migrate does not appear in the list, then it is not connected, and you should click the Please add it to your Hub first link, and follow the instructions provided.

Once the site is selected, click the arrow, then select the hosting plan you want for the site you’re migrating. Use the tabs at the top to select from among our Regular hosting plans or the more performant High Frequency plans. Then click the arrow to continue.

You can use the toggle to opt in for a yearly or monthly hosting plan. Note that with our annual hosting plans, you’ll get complimentary domain and webmail credits worth purchasing a .com domain and a year-long subscription to a webmail account at WPMU DEV.

You’ll then be prompted to select the migration method you want to use. To use the migration tool, you’ll want to select the (S)FTP migration option and click the arrow to proceed.

On the next screen. enter your preferred temporary domain name in the field provided, and click the arrow to proceed. Your new site will be accessible at this temporary domain until you make DNS record changes for your desired custom domain name. Learn more about pointing a custom domain name to your site in our DNS documentation.

Select the geographic region where you wish your site to be hosted.

The migration tool will then proceed to create the new hosted site that will be used as the destination for your migration. This process only takes a few minutes.

Once the site has been created, the screen will refresh and a modal window will pop open where you’ll be prompted to enter the (S)FTP credentials for the site you wish to migrate.

If you don’t know the (S)FTP credentials for your source site, you should find them in that site’s dashboard or control panel at your current host. If they do not exist, create them, paste them into the fields provided.

• Host – The (S)FTP hostname you use to access your site’s file system.
• Port – The port used by your host’s connection protocol..
• FTP Username – The username of a user that can access your site’s WordPress root.
• FTP Password – The password for the above user.
• WordPress install path – Once the WPMU DEV servers access your site, they will attempt to locate your site’s files, and most of the time, they have no problem doing so. Occasionally, however, the path to those files contains an unknown directory that our servers cannot resolve, and the migration may fail. If you know the FTP path to your site files, you can insert it here. You can find the install path in your site’s wp-admin in Tools > Site Health > Info > Directories and Sizes > WordPress directory location. If needed, you can also refer to the Getting FTP Credentials From Your Host chapter below for guidance on locating the install path at your host.
• Source Site hosting provider – The name of your current hosting provider (e.g., Bluehost).

Once you’ve entered all the required information, click Start Migration.

You’ll then see a progress screen like the image below where you can monitor the migration process and see an estimate of the time remaining. Note that the time it will take to complete the migration is wholly dependent on the size of your site and the speed of your existing host.

You can navigate away from this screen while the migration is in progress, and we’ll send you an email when it’s complete. If needed, you can cancel the migration by clicking the Cancel migration button.

Following a successful migration, the temporary domain used in this migration will be automatically set as the primary domain for the migrated content and is viewable. Unless the original site has been disabled in some way, your content is viewable at both the original URL and the temporary one you set for your new WPMU DEV site.

We encourage you to visit the temporary domain to verify that the migration was successful. You can do so by clicking the WP Admin option next to the temporary domain in The Hub site manager.

If the migration fails for any reason and you want to access the new site hosted here, you will need to first reset the password for the auto-created admin account. That account is created using the email address associated with your WPMU DEV account, and the default username is: admin. So to reset the password, you need only go to the /wp-login.php screen for the new site, click the Lost your Password? link, and enter your WPMU DEV email address. Click the reset link in the email, and enter the new password you want to use for the default admin account.

If you are satisfied with the migration, then it’s time to add your permanent domain name and edit your DNS records. See our WPMU DEV DNS Records documentation for guidance.

As a WPMU DEV member, you can also request that we manually migrate your site in case the above option doesn’t work for you.

If you require the migration of a site from one WPMU DEV account to another, see Migrating a WPMU DEV Hosted Site to Another Account below.

Much like the previous chapter, this is a guide on how to automatically create a new WPMU DEV hosted site, and submit a request for a manual migration of your 3rd-party hosted site into it.

If you already have a WPMU DEV hosted site that you want to use as the destination site for your migration, you can use the Migrate Existing Site option under the Hosting > Tools tab in your Hub instead.

Create a New WPMU DEV Site for Migration

From the My Sites overview screen, click the + Add Site button at top-right to add a new site.

Then select the Migrate option.

The dropdown menu on the next screen will reveal a list of all the sites currently connected to The Hub. If the site you wish to migrate does not appear in the list, then it is not connected, and you should click the Please add it to your Hub first link, and follow the instructions provided. Once the site is connected, select it from the dropdown menu and click the arrow to proceed.

Once the site is selected, click the arrow, then select the hosting plan you want for the site you’re migrating. Use the tabs at the top to select from among our Regular hosting plans or the more performant High Frequency plans. Then click the arrow to continue.

You can use the toggle to opt in for a yearly or monthly hosting plan. Note that with our annual hosting plans, you’ll get complimentary domain and webmail credits worth purchasing a .com domain and a year-long subscription to a webmail account at WPMU DEV.

You’ll then be prompted to select the migration method you want to use. To request a manual migration by our hosting support team, you’ll want to select the Help me migrate my site option and click the arrow to proceed.

On the next screen. enter your preferred temporary domain name in the field provided, and click the arrow to proceed. Your new site will be accessible at this temporary domain until you make DNS record changes for your desired custom domain name. Learn more about pointing a custom domain name to your site in our DNS documentation.

Select the geographic region where you wish your site to be hosted.

The migration tool will then proceed to create the hosted site that will be used as the destination for your migration. This process only takes a few minutes.

Once the site has been created, the screen will refresh and a modal window will pop open where you’ll be prompted to provide access credentials for the site you wish to migrate.

WordPress Details

Enter the required information so the hosting support team can access your source site, then click the Next button:

• Admin URL – Enter the URL to the admin area of your site, without the protocol (http/https).
• Admin username – The username of an administrator user on that site.
• Admin password – The password for the above user.

On the next screen, you’ll be prompted to provide either login credentials to your Hosting control panel and/or (S)FTP/SSH details. The hosting support team needs at least one of these to migrate your site, but if you can provide both, that would be ideal. Select the appropriate option and enter the required information.

Host / Server Details

• Server / cPanel login URL – The URL needed to access the control panel for your site at your 3rd-party host.
• Source Site hosting provider – The name of your current hosting provider.
• Host / cPanel username – The username you use to login to your site’s control panel.
• Host / cPanel password – The password for the above user.

FTP / SFTP / SSH Details

• Host – The hostname you use to access your site’s file system, for ex: ftp.mysite.com
• Port – The port used by your host’s connection protocol.
• Username – The username of a user that can access the root of the WordPress install.
• Password – The password for the above user.

Optionally provide any other information that may be needed to access the file system of the site you want to migrate. For example, if you have multiple sites installed in the same directory, provide the server path here so our team knows which one to migrate.

Once you have provided all the required and any optional information in the form, click the Submit button to submit your request.

A confirmation notice will appear on screen to inform you that your request has been successfully submitted.

The notice contains a link to the private support ticket that is automatically created for you in the Hosting Support forum. All the information that you provided in the form is available only to the hosting support team in a private task linked to that ticket.

If the notice closes before you have a chance to click on the ticket link, you’ll find it listed in the My Tickets section of the Support area in your Hub.

The hosting support team will be notified of your request and will proceed with the manual migration of your site within 24-48 hours. As soon as they reply on your ticket, with confirmation that the migration has been completed or if they require more information, you’ll receive an email notification of their reply.

That email will contain a link back to your ticket where you can reply if needed. Please do not reply directly in the email itself.

Supported Migrations & Conversions

It’s important to note that some types of migrations are out-of-scope and cannot be handled by our support or hosting staff. Following are the types of manual migrations/conversions that we can and cannot do for you.

1. Supported migrations
   • Yes – If Single site -> Single site
   • Yes – If Multisite -> Multisite
2. Supported conversions
   • Yes – If Single site -> Multisite
   • Yes – If Subsite -> Single site (you should expect to need to perform some cleanup in the converted site, and there may be configuration issues for some plugins due to conversion)
   • Depends – If Multisite -> Single site (supported only if there’s just a main site, without subsites)
   • Depends – If Subdomain -> Subdirectory (supported only if there’s just a main site, without subsites)
   • Depends – If Subdirectory -> Subdomain (supported only if there’s just a main site, without subsites)
   • Depends – Backups made using the All-in-One Migration plugin that creates archives using .wpress format should be avoided as we can’t guarantee that we can fully extract them.
3. Not supported – Out of scope
   • No – If Single -> Subsite (3rd party developer required for this type of migration)
   • No – If Subsite -> Subsite (3rd party developer required for this type of migration)

It is possible to migrate a WPMU DEV hosted site from one account to another, but it is a manual process that can only be done by our accounts and hosting support teams.

For this type of migration, you would not use the Migrate an Existing Site option as noted in the previous two chapters. That option only works if the source site is already connected to the same Hub account as the destination site, which is not the case here.

Instead, you would start a live chat support session in your Hub, and specify that you would like to migrate a WPMU DEV hosted site from one account to another.

The live chat support agent will collect all the necessary information from you, and will open a private ticket for you in the Hosting Support forum. The agent will also ensure that our accounts team is notified of your request.

The accounts team will ensure that both parties approve the transfer of ownership of the site.

Our hosting support team will then proceed with the migration of the site, and you will be kept informed of progress or obstacles in the support ticket created for you.

Things to do after migration

Once the migration has been completed, you will have a few things to do:

• Verify that the migrated site is performing as expected in the new account.
• Remove each domain that you want to continue using for the site from the Hub of the old account. See our Hosting > Domains documentation for help if needed.
• Then follow the steps in the Go Live Checklist above for the new site.
• Finally, download the most recent backup of the old site for safekeeping and, unless you want to keep it, delete the old site from the old account before its renewal date so you’re not charged for it again.

If you wish to migrate an existing site to a different hosting region, using the Cloning feature is the simplest way to get that done.

Start by following the instructions in the Cloning a site chapter above and, when you get to the Server Location step, select the new region where you’d like your site to be located.

Once the site has been cloned, take some time to verify that everything works as expected on the new cloned site.

When you’re satisfied that all is well on the new cloned site, go to the Domains tab of the original site in your Hub, and delete your domain name from there. Then go to the Domains tab of the new cloned site, and add the domain name to the new site.

Then adjust the DNS settings of the domain name to point it to the new cloned site.

Finally, once both DNS and SSL check green in your Hub for the new cloned site, delete the old original site. Done.

See the Domains documentation for more info on domains and DNS.

Does it cost me anything to move the site like this?

That really depends on how much time you take between creating the new cloned site and deleting the old original site.

For example, let’s say you want to move a site that is currently costing you $12/month, and you clone it on the 1st day of the hosting billing cycle for that site.

The new cloned site would create an additional hosting instance on the same plan as the original, and you would incur an additional charge of $12/month for that new site.

If you delete the original site after taking a couple of days to verify the cloned site, your account would be credited a pro-rated amount for the remaining time in the current billing cycle of the original site. So the above example would actually cost you only 2 days of hosting for the original site (about $0.80).

Here are a few examples to give you a better idea of how pro-rating hosting credits would work:

Scenario A:

• You pay for site A – day 1/30.
• You clone it to site B on day 5 of site A’s billing cycle.
• If you delete site A minutes after cloning it, you would get 30-5 days of pro-rated account credits.

Scenario B:

• You pay for site A – day 1/30.
• You clone it to site B on day 5 of site A’s billing cycle.
• You then wait until day 15 to delete site A. You would get 30-15 days of pro-rated account credits.

Scenario C:

• You pay for site A – day 1/30.
• You clone it to site B on day 5 of site A’s billing cycle.
• You then wait until day 29/30 to delete site A. You would get 30-29 days of pro-rated account credits.

See How WPMU DEV Hosting Credits Work for more info on hosting credits.

Analytics

If you had the Analytics feature enabled in the WPMU DEV Dashboard on the original site, you may see those same statistics appear on the cloned site as well.

To fix this possible issue and reset stats for the cloned site, simply deactivate the Analytics feature in the WPMU DEV Dashboard on the cloned site. Then click the “Check again” link in “We last checked for updates [x] hours/mins/seconds ago – Check again” at the bottom of the screen.

Once you reactivate the Analytics feature, the stats will be fresh and relevant to only the cloned site.

Database

Note that when cloning a site, the database name of the new site will be identical to the original site’s database name, and cannot be changed.

This is by design as some sites might have huge databases, and “renaming a database” function doesn’t exist in phpMyAdmin. So to have a new database name on the cloned site, the process would be export, create new, import, delete old. That process could create disk space issues and could break at any point, so we decided to just transfer everything “as is” to the new cloned site.

This should not be an issue at all as each hosted site is a totally separate hosting instance, and the new database of the new cloned site would be tied to only that site.

Follow this guide to get FTP credentials for any host that uses the popular cPanel interface.

Once logged into your cPanel, scroll down to the Files section, and click on FTP Accounts.

If there is not already an FTP user available for which you know the password, you can simply create a new one for your migration.

• Log In – Enter the username you want for this FTP user
• Password – Enter the secure password you want to use for this FTP user. You’ll want to take note of your chosen password for later use as it will not be displayed once the account is created.
• Directory – IMPORTANT: Be sure to delete what the system adds in this field so the new user has full access to your site’s root directory.
• Quota – Should be set to Unlimited.

Once you’ve entered all the information as above, click the Create FTP Account button.

You’ll then see the new FTP account you just created in the FTP Accounts list just beneath the form you just submitted.

Click the Configure FTP Client link for the account you just created to pop open the Manual Settings section where you’ll see the info you need.

If you are requesting a manual migration, you would provide the needed info as described in the Manual Migration by WPMU DEV Staff chapter above.

If you are migrating your site using the Migration Tool in your Hub, enter the FTP information in the Migrate Existing Site modal window as follows:

• Select the SFTP or FTP option for the protocol according to the protocol used by your host.
• The FTP Server shown here is what you would enter for the Host.
• The Port should be set according to the protocol used by your host: 21 for plain FTP, 22 for secure SFTP.
• Leave the WordPress install path blank (this is why you ensured the Directory was blank when you created the FTP account as above).

Once all the FTP information has been added in the Migrate Existing Site modal, click the Start Migration button. The time it takes to complete will depend on the size of the site you’re migrating.

Follow this guide to get FTP credentials for your SiteGround hosted site.

Once logged into your SiteGround account, click the Websites link in the main navigation. Then click the Site Tools button for the site you want to migrate.

In the sidebar on the next screen, click the FTP Accounts option from the Site menu. If there is not already an FTP user available there for which you know the password, you can simply create a new one for your migration.

• Account Name – Enter the username you want for this FTP user
• Password – Enter the secure password you want to use for this FTP user. You’ll want to take note of your chosen password for later use as it will not be displayed once the account is created.

Once you’ve entered the information as above, click the Create button.

You’ll then see the new FTP account you just created in the Manage FTP Accounts list just beneath the form you just submitted.

Click the vertical ellipsis icon to pop open management options for the FTP account.

In the contextual menu that slides open at the bottom of the screen, click the FTP Credentials option.

That will pop open a little modal window with the FTP Settings info you need.

If you are requesting a manual migration, you would provide the needed info as described in the Manual Migration by WPMU DEV Staff chapter above.

If you are migrating your site using the Migration Tool in your Hub, enter the FTP information in the Migrate Existing Site modal window as follows:

• Select the SFTP or FTP option for the protocol according to the protocol used by your host.
• The Hostname shown here is what you would enter for the Host.
• The Port should be set according to the protocol used by your host: 21 for plain FTP, 22 for secure SFTP.
• Leave the WordPress install path blank so the tool can connect to your WordPress root.

Once all the FTP information has been added in the Migrate Existing Site modal, click the Start Migration button. The time it takes to complete will depend on the size of the site you’re migrating.

Follow this guide to get SFTP credentials for your WP Engine hosted site.

Once logged into your WP Engine account, navigate to the Sites screen and click on the name of the site you want to migrate.

Next, in the Production menu, click the SFTP users option.

If there is not already an SFTP user available there for which you know the password, you can simply create a new one for your migration. In the SFTP users section, click the Create SFTP user button.

That will pop open a modal window with the new SFTP user creation form.

• Username – Enter the username you want for this SFTP user
• Password – Enter the secure password you want to use for this SFTP user. You’ll want to take note of your chosen password for later use as it will not be displayed once the account is created.
• Path (optional) – Leave this blank.
• Environment – Be sure to select your Production environment to migrate your actual site.

Once you’ve entered the information as above, click the Add SFTP user button.

You’ll then see the new FTP account you just created in the area beneath the Create SFTP user section where all the info you need is displayed.

If you are requesting a manual migration, you would provide the needed info as described in the Manual Migration by WPMU DEV Staff chapter above.

If you are migrating your site using the Migration Tool in your Hub, enter the FTP information in the Migrate Existing Site modal window as follows:

• Select the SFTP option for the protocol.
• The SFTP Address shown here is what you would enter for the Host.
• The Port should be set according to the protocol used by your host: Wp Engine uses port 2222.
• Leave the WordPress install path blank so the tool can connect to your WordPress root.

Once all the FTP information has been added in the Migrate Existing Site modal, click the Start Migration button. The time it takes to complete will depend on the size of the site you’re migrating.

Follow this guide to get SFTP credentials for your Cloudways hosted site.

Once logged into your Cloudways account, be sure you are viewing the Applications screen, not the Servers screen. You do not want to use an SFTP user for your entire server, as using such a user would migrate everything on the server to WPMU DEV. You only want to migrate one site.

On the Applications screen, click on the site (Application) that you want to migrate.

If there is not already an SFTP user available for that site for which you know the password, you can simply create a new one for your migration.

In the Access Details section of your Application, click the Add button under Application Credentials.

That will pop open a modal window with the new SFTP user creation form.

• Username – Enter the username you want for this SFTP user
• Password – Enter the secure password you want to use for this SFTP user.

Once you’ve entered the information as above, click the Submit button.

You’ll then see the new SFTP account you just created in the Application Credentials area where all the info you need is displayed.

If you are requesting a manual migration, you would provide the needed info as described in the Manual Migration by WPMU DEV Staff chapter above.

If you are migrating your site using the Migration Tool in your Hub, enter the FTP information in the Migrate Existing Site modal window as follows:

• Select the SFTP option for the protocol.
• The Public IP shown here is what you would enter for the Host.
• The Port should be set according to the protocol used by your host: Cloudways uses port 22.
• The WordPress install path should be set to /public_html so the tool can connect to your WordPress root.

Once all the FTP information has been added in the Migrate Existing Site modal, click the Start Migration button. The time it takes to complete will depend on the size of the site you’re migrating.

If you have any hosting plan at GoDaddy that grants you access to cPanel, follow the cPanel guide above instead.

Follow this guide to get SFTP credentials for your site hosted by GoDaddy Managed WordPress.

Once logged into your GoDaddy account, be sure you’re on the My Products page, and click the Manage button in the Managed WordPress section for the site you want to migrate.

On the next screen, click the Overview button for the site.

In the site Overview area, navigate to the Settings screen and click the View link in the SFTP/SSH details row.

That will pop open a modal window with the SFTP Settings info you need.

If you are requesting a manual migration, you would provide the needed info as described in the Manual Migration by WPMU DEV Staff chapter above.

If you are migrating your site using the Migration Tool in your Hub, enter the FTP information in the Migrate Existing Site modal window as follows:

• Select the SFTP option for the protocol.
• The Hostname shown here is what you would enter for the Host.
• The Port should be set according to the protocol used by your host: GoDaddy Managed WordPress uses port 22.
• Leave the WordPress install path blank so the tool can connect to your WordPress root.

Once all the FTP information has been added in the Migrate Existing Site modal, click the Start Migration button. The time it takes to complete will depend on the size of the site you’re migrating.

Follow this guide to get FTP credentials for your DreamHost DreamPress hosted site.

Once logged into your DreamHost account, click the Managed WordPress option in the WordPress menu in the sidebar. Then click the Manage button for the site you want to migrate.

On the next screen, scroll down to the Manage Files section and toggle on the Show Credentials option. That will reveal the SFTP Settings info you need.

Unfortunately, it appears DreamHost does not display your WordPress install path anywhere in the control panel. So you’ll also want to click on the Manage Files button there to pop open their File Manager utility where you can get that info.

Once in the File Manager, be sure to navigate to the correct directory where your WordPress site is installed; it’s the directory that contains the wp-admin folder. Then copy the path that is displayed at the top of that screen.

If you are requesting a manual migration, you would provide the needed info as described in the Manual Migration by WPMU DEV Staff chapter above.

If you are migrating your site using the Migration Tool in your Hub, enter the FTP information in the Migrate Existing Site modal window as follows:

• Select the SFTP option for the protocol.
• The Host shown here is what you would enter for the Host.
• The Port should be set according to the protocol used by your host: DreamHost Managed WordPress uses port 22.
• Enter the WordPress install path that you copied above so the tool can connect to your WordPress root.

Once all the FTP information has been added in the Migrate Existing Site modal, click the Start Migration button. The time it takes to complete will depend on the size of the site you’re migrating.

Follow this guide to get SFTP credentials for your Flywheel hosted site.

Once logged into your Flywheel account, click the Account option in your profile menu at the top-right of the screen.

You’ll then see the SFTP info you need displayed in the SFTP Access section on that screen.

Unfortunately, it appears Flywheel does not display the WordPress install path for your site anywhere in their control panel. There are 2 ways to get that needed info though:

1. Use the SFTP Access info as above in your preferred FTP Client to access your site files. Once you have navigated into the directory where your WordPress site is installed, you’ll see the install path displayed in the client. For example, this is what you might see in Filezilla where the path is indicated at the top where it says Remote Site:
2. Alternatively, you can know what the install path is simply by combining your Flywheel username with the name of your site as it appears on the Sites screen. For example, if your username is pcwriter and your site name is fwtest1, then the install path would be: /pcwriter/fwtest1

If you are requesting a manual migration, you would provide the needed info as described in the Manual Migration by WPMU DEV Staff chapter above.

If you are migrating your site using the Migration Tool in your Hub, enter the FTP information in the Migrate Existing Site modal window as follows:

• Select the SFTP option for the protocol.
• Flywheel uses the same hostname for all sites, so enter sftp.flywheelsites.com for the Host.
• The Port should be set according to the protocol used by your host: Flywheel uses port 22.
• Enter the WordPress install path as above so the tool can connect to your WordPress root.

Once all the FTP information has been added in the Migrate Existing Site modal, click the Start Migration button. The time it takes to complete will depend on the size of the site you’re migrating.

If you have already SFTP’d into your site’s files, you may have noticed that the file structure of Flywheel hosted sites is rather unique in that the wp-admin folder, and many root files, appear to be missing. Our smart migration tool will detect that the site is hosted at Flywheel and will migrate the wp-content directory and the database, then install all missing files/folders from wordpress.org so your site will function as it should.

Follow this guide to get SFTP credentials for your Kinsta hosted site.

Kinsta automatically creates an SFTP account for each domain you add to your hosting plan.

Once logged into your Kinsta account, navigate to the Sites screen, and click on the site you want to migrate.

On the next screen, in the Info section for your Live environment, scroll down to the SFTP/SSH area where you’ll find the SFTP info you need.

You’ll also want to take note of the Path shown in the Basic details area at the top of this same screen. This indicates the directory in which your WordPress site is installed.

If you are requesting a manual migration, you would provide the needed info as described in the Manual Migration by WPMU DEV Staff chapter above.

If you are migrating your site using the Migration Tool in your Hub, enter the FTP information in the Migrate Existing Site modal window as follows:

• Select the SFTP option for the protocol.
• The IP address shown in your Kinsta account for the Host is what you would enter for the Host.
• The Port should be set according to the protocol used by your host. Kinsta assigns different ports for different users, so it is important to copy the exact port shown in your account for your site.
• Enter the Path you copied above for the WordPress install path so the tool can connect to your WordPress root.

Once all the FTP information has been added in the Migrate Existing Site modal, click the Start Migration button. The time it takes to complete will depend on the size of the site you’re migrating.

Follow this guide to get FTP credentials for your Hostinger hosted site.

Once logged into your Hostinger account, click the Manage button for the site you want to migrate.

On the Hosting Account screen, scroll down to the Files section, and click on FTP Accounts.

If there is not already an FTP user available for which you know the password, you can simply create a new one for your migration.

• Directory – This should be kept at the default so this FTP account can access the root directory for this site: /public_html
• Username – Enter the username you want for this FTP user.
• Password – Enter the secure password you want to use for this FTP user. You’ll want to take note of your chosen password for later use as it will not be displayed once the account is created.

Once you’ve entered all the information as above, click the Create button.

You’ll then see the new FTP account you just created in the List of Active FTP Accounts section just beneath the form you just submitted.

If you are requesting a manual migration, you would provide the needed info as described in the Manual Migration by WPMU DEV Staff chapter above.

If you are migrating your site using the Migration Tool in your Hub, enter the FTP information in the Migrate Existing Site modal window as follows:

• Select the FTP option for the protocol.
• The Hostname as shown here is what you would enter for the Host (be sure to remove the ftp:// part if you right-click and copy the link from that screen).
• The Port should be set according to the protocol used by your host: Hostinger uses port 21.
• Enter /public_html for the WordPress install path so the tool can connect to the root directory of your WordPress site.

Once all the FTP information has been added in the Migrate Existing Site modal, click the Start Migration button. The time it takes to complete will depend on the size of the site you’re migrating.

As noted above, you are free to upgrade the hosting plan of any site at any time you need.

To get started, click the Hosting tab of your site in your Hub. Then, on the Overview screen, click the Upgrade button that appears in the Plan row.

That will pop open a modal window where you’ll see all the different plans to which you can upgrade your site.

Upgrading & Downgrading Limitations

Due to server architecture and disk sizes, downgrading is not directly possible. Plans lower than the one your site is currently hosted on are therefore locked.

Additionally, you cannot switch an existing site from a Regular plan to a High Frequency plan, and vice versa. In other words, if your site is currently on a Regular hosting plan, you can only choose to upgrade to another Regular plan. The same applies to the more performant High Frequency plans.

Similarly, if your site is currently hosted on a monthly plan, it cannot be switched to a yearly hosting plan or have its billing changed to a yearly plan, or vice-versa.

With the above in mind, if you do need to downgrade a site to a lower hosting plan, switch from a Regular to a High Frequency plan (or vice-versa), or switch from monthly to yearly billing (or vice-versa), you have a few options. Note that any of these options would delete an existing staging environment.

1. You can migrate the original site to a new site on the new plan or billing cycle, then delete the old site.
2. Or create a template from the original site and use that template to create an exact duplicate of the site on the new plan or billing cycle, then delete the old site.
3. Or create a backup of the site and delete the site. Then recreate the site on a different plan or billing cycle with the same tempurl address and in the same region. You’ll then see the backup you just created that you can restore on the new site.

If you choose either option 1 or 2 above, be sure to create and download a backup of the original site first, so you have something to fall back on if needed. Then take a moment to verify that the new site looks & works as it should. Finally, delete the original site. Either of these options would incur a minimal additional cost for the time both sites exist. For all upgrades, we would of course prorate you the cost difference in the form of account credits. We’d also prorate you credits for the paid-for time you didn’t use on the higher plan when migrating a site to a lower plan. See Does it cost me anything to move the site like this above for examples of the cost involved in creating or migrating a site in this manner.

These methods would also give your new site a new IP address. So you’ll want to be sure you’re following our recommendations and doing one of the following:

• Manage your domain’s DNS in your Hub so A & AAAA record changes can be made with minimal fuss & downtime.
• Or, use a CNAME record at your current registrar (if possible) to map your domain to the tempurl.host domain of your site so you don’t need to change A & AAAA records.
• Or, route your domain through Cloudflare for added security, and use the CNAME method there instead.

See our Registrar Guides and 6 VERY Good Reasons to Manage Your DNS with WPMU DEV docs for DNS help if needed.

Multisite admins can adjust both the file size and file type limits in their Network Settings, located here: Dashboard > Network Admin > Settings > Network Settings.

Scroll down to the Upload Settings section, where you will find the Upload file type and Max Upload File Size fields.

Adding/Removing File Types in Multisite

In the Upload file types field, enter the file extensions of the file types you want to add, separating the extensions with a single space. Delete the extensions of file types you do not want to be uploaded.

Modifying the File Size Upload Limit in Multisite

In the Max Upload File Size field, enter a size, in kilobytes, up to 12800kb (128mb) to set the max size for files uploaded to this network.

Click Save Changes, and that’s all there is to it. The new file size limit will apply to every site within this network.

If you’ve seen the “Sorry, this file type is not permitted for security reasons” error message; you’ve tried to upload a file type that is not on your site’s upload allowed list or has failed a WordPress security validation test.

Adding/Removing File Types in Standard Installations

You can add allowed file types to your site using a plugin or with a simple code snippet.

There are a few such plugins available for free in the WordPress.org plugin repository. One of the simplest to use is very aptly named File Upload Types.

Just install and activate the plugin. Then go to Settings > File Upload Types in your site admin and select the types you want to allow on your site. Click Save Settings and you’re done.

If you prefer a code method, simply copy this code to a new .php file with any name you like, and adjust the list to include the mime types you want to add. Then upload the file to your mu-plugins directory.

If you need help finding the correct format for a mime type you want to add, here’s a handy list, associated by type of documents, and ordered by their common extensions: https://docs.w3cub.com/http/basics_of_http/mime_types/complete_list_of_mime_types

This chapter provides an example of decreasing the max upload file size using a plugin like Increase Maximum Upload File Size.

Once the plugin is installed and activated, Increase Maximum Upload File Size will appear as a new option near the bottom of your Settings menu.

The plugin contains a single dropdown menu. When you open the UI for the first time, it will display your current max upload file size.

Click the dropdown menu to view the various upload size limits. Select the desired upload limit and click Save Changes. Remember that selecting a file size larger than 128MB will not override the 128MB limit on our hosting.

Once a limit has been set, the plugin displays both the WPMU DEV Managed Hosting default limit of 128mb and the lower limit established by the plugin.

You can take white labeling to another level by customizing the server error pages with your brand, or any custom information you may want.

So, for example, if you’re not too enthusiastic about our default error 500 page:

You could create something much more suited to your brand:

How to customize

To create a custom page for any of the above errors, create a .html file with the error number as the filename, with any content you wish inside. Then upload it to the root of your WordPress install.

For example, to create a custom error page in the unlikely case something goes wrong on your server and you get the dreaded “500 internal server error”, you’d create a file called 500.html

Add any custom HTML content you like to your file, and upload. You can use the Manage Files utility from your Hub > Tools screen to create and add content to the file, or edit on your computer and upload via the File Manager or FTP.

Here’s an example of the basic HTML you’d want to have in any custom error page:

Your custom pages can be as simple or as creative as you like, and branded however you need. If you need some inspiration, have a look at these pages for some great examples:
https://uicookies.com/500-error-page-templates/
https://freefrontend.com/html-css-404-page-templates/

Our White Label services allow you to remove all WPMU DEV branding so that you can use your own branding or even your client’s branding. This is largely offered as a tool through our WPMU DEV Dashboard Plugin. For a guide to rebranding with the WPMU DEV Dashboard Plugin, read our White Label Plugins document.

The process of white labeling your site is also closely linked to our Branda plugin. Branda simplifies white label branding, maintenance, and much more. Read our WPMU DEV documents on Branda to learn more about the plugin’s capabilities.

And if you’re using our Hub Client plugin to offer all the amazing site management tools of our Hub to your clients, you’ll want to review the Hub Client documentation as well.

Our servers run NGINX, the fastest, most stable webserver type, and NGINX does not support .htaccess. Members accustomed to using .htaccess to enable or disable functionality needn’t worry because our servers automatically handle all the functions typically associated with it.

Servers with the AllowOverride directive on, a prerequisite for .htaccess files, process requests at a much slower rate than NGINX servers. In fact, NGINX servers process many more requests per server than their Apache counterparts in large part because they don’t support .htaccess.

Some of the common uses for .htaccess that our servers automatically achieve are:

• Permalinks – Our servers are configured to automatically handle permalinks for you.
• Caching – Our servers handle caching for you, no need to install plugins or modify .htaccess files.
• Redirects/rewrites – Redirects can be handled using a plugin or via custom server-side redirects that WPMU DEV support can install for you.
• Security – Many WordPress security plugins have you modify the .htaccess file to install security rules. Fortunately, WPMU DEV hosting already has these security precautions in place at the server level.

Regardless of what you’re trying to achieve, contact support as noted above and we will help you figure out how to implement the same thing without creating or modifying a .htaccess file.

As noted above, our server architecture is built on Nginx which does not support .htaccess. However, there may be times when you need some custom rules added to your server, to handle some 3rd-party plugin functionality for example.

As our system is managed WordPress, you do not have root access to the server, so cannot make those changes yourself.

In cases like this, simply contact support and we’ll review the code you wish to add. If it’s compatible with our server infrastructure, we’ll be happy to get it added for you.