How to Move Website Files With the Panel File Manager

Migrating a website onto RepublicNodes web/VPS hosting, or just reorganizing an existing one? The File Manager handles this without needing a separate FTP client for most jobs.

Uploading From Your Old Host

1. Export/download your website's files from wherever they currently live — most hosts offer a "download all files" or FTP export option, or you can zip the site's root folder if you have shell/file access there.
2. On your RepublicNodes service, open the File Manager and navigate to your site's document root (commonly public_html, www, or htdocs, depending on your setup).
3. Upload the .zip of your site directly — uploading one archive is far faster and more reliable than uploading hundreds of individual files one at a time.
4. Use the Extract option on the uploaded zip to unpack it in place.
5. Delete the now-unneeded .zip file once you've confirmed extraction worked correctly.

Moving the Database (If Your Site Uses One)

File Manager only handles files — a database (WordPress, most CMS platforms, custom apps) needs to move separately:

1. Export your database from the old host (usually via phpMyAdmin's Export function, or a mysqldump if you have shell access).
2. Create a new database on your RepublicNodes service.
3. Import the exported .sql file into the new database (via the Adminer/phpMyAdmin link on your Databases tab, or a MySQL client pointed at the new credentials).
4. Update your site's config file (e.g. wp-config.php for WordPress) with the new database host, name, username, and password.

Reorganizing Files on an Existing Site

• Move: select the file/folder, use the Move action, and pick the destination — no need to download and re-upload just to relocate something.
• Copy: duplicate a file/folder in place, useful before making risky edits to a config.
• Rename: click directly on a file's name to rename it inline.
• Bulk operations: select multiple files with checkboxes to move, copy, or delete several at once instead of one at a time.

Setting File Permissions

Some web applications (WordPress plugin updates, certain upload directories) expect specific file permissions to function correctly — check the File Manager's permissions/chmod option if you hit "permission denied" errors that a hosting migration guide for your specific platform calls out.

After Migration: Update DNS

Once your files and database are live and tested on the new hosting, point your domain's DNS at the new server — see our domain migration guide for doing this without a visible outage during the cutover.