How to Migrate Your Website to a Cloud Server: Developer Guide

Before You Start: Essential Preparation

Moving a website to a new cloud server requires advance planning. Without proper preparation, you risk data loss or extended downtime. This guide covers migrating a PHP/Laravel site (or any web application) from one server to another, step by step.

Estimated execution time: 2-6 hours depending on site size and database.

Preparation Checklist

• Old server login credentials (SSH)
• New server login credentials (SSH)
• Old database credentials
• List of domains and subdomains
• Copy of current DNS settings
• List of connected services (APIs, mail services, external services)
• Complete backup before starting

Step 1: Prepare the New Server

Secure the Server

# Update system
apt update && apt upgrade -y

# Create new user
adduser deploy
usermod -aG sudo deploy

# Secure SSH
# In /etc/ssh/sshd_config:
Port 2222
PermitRootLogin no
PasswordAuthentication no

systemctl restart sshd

Install Required Software

# Nginx
apt install nginx -y

# PHP (example: PHP 8.3)
add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php -y
apt install php8.3-fpm php8.3-mysql php8.3-xml php8.3-mbstring php8.3-curl php8.3-zip php8.3-gd php8.3-bcmath -y

# MySQL/MariaDB
apt install mariadb-server -y
mysql_secure_installation

# Composer
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer

# Node.js (if required)
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | bash -
apt install nodejs -y

# Certbot (SSL)
apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y

Configure Firewall

ufw default deny incoming
ufw default allow outgoing
ufw allow 2222/tcp
ufw allow 80/tcp
ufw allow 443/tcp
ufw enable

Step 2: Transfer Files

Method 1: rsync (Recommended)

# From the new server, pull files from the old one
rsync -avz --progress -e "ssh -p 22" user@old-server:/var/www/mysite/ /var/www/mysite/

rsync transfers only the differences — if the connection drops, you can resume where it stopped.

Method 2: Compress and Transfer

# On the old server
cd /var/www
tar -czf mysite-backup.tar.gz mysite/

# Transfer to new server
scp -P 22 mysite-backup.tar.gz user@new-server:/var/www/

# On the new server
cd /var/www
tar -xzf mysite-backup.tar.gz

Set Permissions

chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/mysite
chmod -R 755 /var/www/mysite
chmod -R 775 /var/www/mysite/storage
chmod -R 775 /var/www/mysite/bootstrap/cache

Step 3: Migrate the Database

Export from Old Server

mysqldump -u root -p --single-transaction --routines --triggers database_name > database_backup.sql

Important flags:

• --single-transaction: Ensures data consistency without locking tables
• --routines: Includes stored procedures
• --triggers: Includes triggers

Import to New Server

# Create database and user
mysql -u root -p <<EOF
CREATE DATABASE database_name CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'app_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'strong_password_here';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON database_name.* TO 'app_user'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EOF

# Import data
mysql -u root -p database_name < database_backup.sql

Verify

# Table count
mysql -u root -p -e "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM information_schema.tables WHERE table_schema='database_name';"

Compare the count with the old server — they must match.

Step 4: Configure the Application

Update Environment File (.env)

# Update database settings
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_DATABASE=database_name
DB_USERNAME=app_user
DB_PASSWORD=strong_password_here

# Update site URL
APP_URL=https://yourdomain.com

Run Laravel Commands

cd /var/www/mysite
composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader
php artisan config:cache
php artisan route:cache
php artisan view:cache
php artisan migrate --force

Configure Nginx

server {
 listen 80;
 server_name yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com;
 root /var/www/mysite/public;

 index index.php;

 location / {
 try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
 }

 location ~ \.php$ {
 fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;
 fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $realpath_root$fastcgi_script_name;
 include fastcgi_params;
 }

 location ~ /\.(?!well-known).* {
 deny all;
 }
}

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/mysite /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
nginx -t && systemctl reload nginx

Step 5: Switch DNS

Before Switching

# Lower TTL 24 hours before the switch
# Change TTL on all records to 300 seconds (5 minutes)

The Switch

# New DNS records
A @ NEW_SERVER_IP
A www NEW_SERVER_IP

After Switching

# Enable SSL
certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com

# Verify DNS
dig yourdomain.com +short

Step 6: Final Verification

Check	Method
Site loads	Open the site in browser
SSL works	Verify the green lock
Database	Log in and verify data
Forms	Submit a test form
Email	Send a test email
API	Test all endpoints
Cron jobs	Verify crontab
Performance	Measure page load time

Step 7: Post-Migration Monitoring

The first 48 hours are critical. Monitor:

• Error logs: tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log
• System performance: htop
• Storage space: df -h
• Network traffic: iftop

Migrate Your Site to CLOUD

CLOUD (cloud.net.sa) provides servers in Riyadh with very low latency latency. Your team handles the migration — and the CLOUD team offers free orientation sessions for your developers throughout the process. Server ready in 60 seconds with prices starting at competitive pricing — pricing and plans.

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Get Started

Want to try it yourself? Choose the right hosting plan or build your custom server with the specs you need.