Move Your Website to Bangladesh Hosting Without Downtime

Moving to get.bd Web or Turbo hosting? You get free migration, so we will move your site across for you. If you would rather do it yourself, this is the safe order.

You can move a website to a Bangladeshi server without taking it offline, because the old and new servers run side by side until DNS changes. You copy the site, test it privately through your computer's hosts file, switch DNS, and keep the old host running for at least a week. Two things cause most failed moves: forgetting the email records, and a database that changed after you copied it. Work through the steps in this order and you avoid both.

Should you move to a Bangladeshi server?

If your visitors are in Bangladesh, a local server shortens their path to your site. Our BDIX vs international hosting comparison explains why, and the live ping test shows you the difference from your own connection. get.bd plans run from our datacenter in Dhaka and are BDIX connected. The network is AS141988 with a 10 Gbps port at BDIX, on public record at PeeringDB.

If most of your visitors are abroad, the sum changes. They travel the international route to reach a Bangladeshi server, so hosting near them or a CDN will serve them better.

Step 1: List everything the site depends on

• DNS records: screenshot every A, CNAME, MX and TXT record. First find out where DNS lives: nslookup -type=ns yourdomain.com.bd names the servers in charge, and that is where you edit records.
• Site needs: PHP version, database version, cron jobs and subdomains.
• Email: is it on the old host, or with Google Workspace or Zoho? List every mailbox and forwarder.
• Outside services: some SMS and payment gateways only accept requests from an approved server IP. Get the new IP onto their list before you switch.
• Logins: domain, DNS, old host, FTP or SSH. Test them all now, not on the day.

Step 2: Back up your files and database

Copy the whole site folder, often public_html, including hidden files such as .htaccess. Export the database to a .sql file, either with phpMyAdmin or with this command:

mysqldump -u USER -p DATABASE > backup.sql

Download both to your own computer and open them to confirm they are not empty. Whichever host you use, keep your own copy, and ask what the host's backups actually cover.

Step 3: Lower your DNS TTL a day or two ahead

TTL tells other DNS servers how long they may remember a record. At your current DNS provider, set the TTL on your A, www and MX records to 300 seconds, at least a day before the switch. The new value only reaches everyone once the old TTL has run out. An old TTL of 86,400 means waiting a full day. An old TTL of 3,600 means an hour.

Step 4: Copy the site to the new server

Order the new plan. On get.bd Web and Turbo Hosting you can choose to use an existing domain, and if that domain is also with get.bd, both sit in one client area at my.get.bd. Ordering alone moves no traffic: visitors keep reaching the old host until you change DNS. Then:

1. Add the domain in your hosting control panel, so the server knows which site to serve.
2. Upload your files to the site's folder.
3. Create a new database and user, then import the .sql file.
4. Put the new database details in the site's configuration. In WordPress that means DB_NAME, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD and DB_HOST in wp-config.php.
5. Match the PHP version you noted, and recreate cron jobs and subdomains.

The domain is not changing, so the site's internal addresses can stay as they are.

Step 5: Test with your hosts file before changing DNS

Your hosts file overrides DNS on your computer only. You see the new server while everyone else still sees the old one. Add one line, using your new server's IP in place of this example:

203.0.113.10 yourdomain.com.bd www.yourdomain.com.bd

• Windows: open Notepad as administrator, edit C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts, then run ipconfig /flushdns.
• Mac or Linux: edit /etc/hosts with sudo.

Run ping yourdomain.com.bd to confirm it shows the new IP. Then open the site in a private window and use it the way a customer would: inner pages, images, contact form, login, admin area, checkout. A certificate warning at this stage is normal if the new server has no certificate for the domain yet. It does not mean the copy failed. Remove the line when you finish, or you will not see what real visitors see after the switch.

Step 6: Choose A records or name servers

Use A records when email or other services live elsewhere. Use name servers when the new host will run both site and email. Our guide to pointing a domain at hosting has the exact settings for each.

Step 7: Protect your email (MX) before you switch

• Email with Google Workspace, Zoho or similar: with A records, nothing changes. With name servers, recreate the MX records and the SPF, DKIM and DMARC TXT records at the new host first.
• Email staying on the old host for now: check what your MX points to. If it points at the root domain, or at a mail name that follows the root, changing the A record drags your email to the new server. Add an A record for mail with the old server's IP and point the MX at it before you switch.
• Email moving to the new host: create the same mailboxes first and change the MX at the switch. Copy old messages over IMAP with a mail client or imapsync. Keep the old mailboxes open, because some mail will land there during propagation.

If the site sends its own mail, such as order confirmations, add the new server to your SPF record. Afterwards, send a test message to and from an outside address. For the details, see setting up email on a .bd domain.

Step 8: Do a final copy, then switch DNS

If your site takes orders, comments or new articles, the copy from step 4 is already out of date. Pick your quietest hour and stop changes on the old site. For a shop, use maintenance mode or pause checkout. Export the database again, import it on the new server, and copy any new uploads. Then change DNS straight away. A brochure site that has not changed can skip the extra copy.

Once nslookup yourdomain.com.bd 8.8.8.8 returns the new IP, confirm https:// loads without a warning. SSL is free on get.bd Web and Turbo plans. On any other host, ask in advance how certificates are issued, because many can only do it once the domain points at them.

Step 9: Keep the old host running

DNS resolvers pick up the change at different times, so some visitors and some mail will reach the old server for a while. Keep it running for at least a week, or two if email moved. During that time, watch its access log, copy across by hand any orders that landed there, and check the old mailboxes. Test the site from mobile data as well as your office connection.

Step 10: Cancel only when it is quiet

Cancel when the old logs show only bots, mail has stopped arriving, and you hold a final copy of the files, database and mailboxes. Then set your TTL back to 3,600.

Still choosing where to move? The plan finder narrows it down. If you get stuck on any step, open a ticket or message us on WhatsApp and ask. Rather hand it over? Tell us where the site is now and we will move it.