How to backup emails before domain transfer

[phly]

Good Day

I am planning on moving from one host to another. The current host is Afrihost however not much joy. How does one go about such? Backing up emails and moving the domain name and hosting. Seeing that one is moving from them to a competitor host, how willing are Afrihost in "releasing" the domain? Anyone had any experience with such before? What steps to take or issues I may encounter in the process?

I have heard horror stories and trying to find the quickest seamless way to move my hosting from them to another host and somehow (if possible) backup and be able to restore my emails. I also don't want to lose my domain name in the process.

Thanks in advance.


Regards

 

[Robfyntjie]

Hi there!

In cPanel there is a full site backup setting. This backup is usually imported by your new host and the nice thing is that it retains all your email settings, filters etc...

The new host will probably ask you to move the file to a different directory and change the rrw...

Regarding Afrihost releasing the domain... I have moved plenty over from them and as long as the client does not owe them money and sent in their cancellation request, all usually runs smoothly

Where you planning on moving to?

 

[deweyzeph]

As long as it's a co.za domain and your email address is listed as the registrant's email address then there is absolutely nothing Afrihost can do to stop you from moving your domain.

 

[phly]

Thats good news. However @Robfyntjie the backup seems to retain everything BUT does this include emails themselves? Or does the email settings backed up imply that when you restore the settings then the emails will somehow sync back? If they are actually included in the backup then it does make sense.

So to sum it up. Even if i have several "wordpress mockup" sites that I have on several subdomains on Afrihost they too will be backed up in this full site backup or do I have to backup each manually with say duplicator or similar tool?

I just don't want to take the plunge and regret hence covering all my bases. I don't anticipate any restoration issues as long as I have a backup to speak of in the first place.

As for where I am moving too, supporting a local guy with the necessary capacity and facility while promoting small businesses as well.

And yes its a co.za domain.

 

[IziWhatNow]

I have a similar issue but in Plesk. When I make the backup on the old site, and restore it to the new site (both Plesk) it complains about invalid file formats or something along those lines. Still need to contact Hostking to hear if they can help me out

 

[Robfyntjie]

To be honest, I never actually looked at the mails itself when doing a restore as mostly use POP3 and the mails left on the server is usually only for backup purpose if something goes wrong on your PC etc...

Regarding the subdomains, they should be included in the full backup as well.

Best way to test is create the full backup. Let the new hosting company do a full restore. Then access your new cPanel directly on the new server's address and have a look at your mail accounts. (You will immediately notice if they are consuming space or not

Agree with you on the smaller businesses... More personalized service

Sorry for not being able to give a concrete answer on the mail issue. Not at home this weekend to double check for you

Either way I would recommend (depending how valuable your sites are) to make a local backup of them anyway as a 3rd fail-safe... (Duplicator plugin works great in my opinion)

Hope it helps a bit

 

[Robfyntjie]

@Pakka, sorry don't have any experience with Plesk itself :-(

 

[neo_]

Hosts like Elitehost and domains.co.za will handle the transfer for you, where all you need to do is send along the credentials to your existing cpanel account, and they will do the backup and move it over (to be safe, always have your own downloaded backup). Once the domain is transferred, they simply point it to the new server and everything should work as-is, with everything restored. All of my transfers from Afrihost to Elitehost went smoothly; not a single problem in sight.

 

[WAslayer]

the full cpanelbackup will contain all your emails as well.. alternatively, if you want to make sure all your mails get transferred: add email accounts from both your old and new host into your mail client.. once the mail has synced to the mail client from the old account, move or copy the mail from the old account folders in the mail client, to the new mail account folders in the mail client.. make sure the accounts are setup as imap though..

 

[phly]

Glad to hear that cpanel backup includes everything. I have taken the time out to also backup manually the individual mockup sites I have and got the full cpanel backup as well. I reckon I am good and ready to move.

Thank you all for the advice and input. Much appreciated. Definitely much wiser than I was days ago.