Import from another provider

Import from another provider

An import moves the content of an account at another hosting provider into a hosting you already have with us – files, a database, mailboxes and DNS records. An import never creates a hosting: the target hosting must already exist and have enough free space and room within its limits before you start.

Where to start it

In https://panel.cloudweb.sk you will find Move from another host in the left menu, or you can start it directly from a specific hosting's quick actions.

Two ways to connect

• WebSupport.sk – connect the account using an API key and secret you generate in your WebSupport administration. Once connected, the account is read automatically – domains, hostings, databases, mailboxes, FTP accounts and the DNS zone.
• Your own FTP/FTPS/SFTP login – use this if your previous provider has no supported connector. You enter the server address, port, username and password (or a private key for SFTP). The login is optional – if you only want to move a database, a DNS zone or mailboxes without files, you can submit the connect form without one.

What is found automatically and what you fill in yourself

With WebSupport, files, databases (via a temporary access that is removed again after the transfer), mailboxes, FTP accounts and the DNS zone are found and planned automatically. WebSupport does not expose e-mail forwarding (aliases/forwarders) through its API – those, along with cron jobs, you add by hand, copying them from the old administration into the migration plan.

With your own FTP/SFTP login, only the files on that server are found automatically. You supply the database, the DNS zone, mailboxes and e-mail forwarding yourself – the database with its own login credentials, the DNS zone by pasting an exported zone file, and each mailbox with its own IMAP login.

The following are never transferred automatically:

• Cron jobs – no provider exposes them through an API; once you have the facts about the original jobs, you recreate them on the target hosting in Cron jobs.
• The SSL certificate – after the move we issue a new free certificate for your domain on the new server; the original certificate is not copied over.
• Domain registration transfer – that is a separate process using an authorization code from the previous registrar, see domain registration and transfer.

The flow: connect → discover → plan → start

Connecting the account and looking at what is on it (discovery) are completely risk-free – nothing changes and nothing is written at the previous provider. After that, on the plan screen you map each item found (a site, a database, a mailbox, a DNS zone) to the target hosting and choose what should be moved. The panel continuously checks whether the plan fits within the target plan's limits (disk space, number of databases, mailboxes and so on) and flags any mismatch before you start.

Only clicking Start migration actually begins the transfer, and only then does anything happen at the previous provider (for example a temporary FTP access for the database). The migration runs immediately once started, with no wait for support approval.

Mailbox passwords

When moving a mailbox you normally supply its existing password – nothing about it changes. With the WebSupport connector you can instead explicitly choose a reset – but that actually changes the mailbox's password at the previous provider, so it is only done with your explicit consent.

Progress and stopping a migration

You can watch the migration page live – seeing which items are done, which are running and which have failed. A running migration is stopped, on request, by support via a ticket; stopping it means items that already finished stay transferred (their data is neither deleted nor rolled back), while items that had not yet started are marked as failed and are not processed further.