Checklist for moving an existing WordPress site to a new web host

A checklist for moving an existing WordPress site to a new VPS web host, when you have full admin rights over the server.

1. Set DNS TTL’s down to 5 minutes (a few days prior to the move). This will allow the nameserver update to propagate more quickly.
2. Set up new domain on the new host (Checklist for setting up a new domain on your VPS)
3. Install WordPress on new host
4. Copy old content directory to new WordPress host
5. Copy old database to new host (how to use secure copy to copy database to new server)
6. Update wp-config on new host
7. Enable mod_rewrite in Apache on the new server. From the command line:

a2enmod rewrite

8. Restart apache
   /etc/init.d/apache2 restart
9. Test that everything works (you can change your host file to test things out easily)
10. Update registrar to point domain to the nameservers for the new host

Related: create a new database and run .sql file – Display text based on if it is the WordPress blog home page

If WordPress is up to date you could also just copy over everything for steps 1 and 2. I am using this for several sites I have had for years, I figure starting with a clean install of WordPress is a good idea, but it is not necessary.