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Preparation

Introduction

Before you start using Staatic, some preparation is needed. This guide covers it step by step.

Migrate WordPress

Note: if you are using Staatic Cloud, you may not need to clone your WordPress site manually. After creating a new cloud site, you can import a supported WordPress backup ZIP directly into the managed WordPress instance. See Importing a WordPress Site.

The goal is to replace your public and dynamic WordPress site with an optimized static version of your WordPress site. In order to manage your public site, you will log in to your dynamic WordPress site on a different (and usually hidden) URL and publish updates to your static site on the primary (and public) URL.

Since your existing WordPress site will be replaced with a static version of your site generated by Staatic, you will need to migrate your current (dynamic) WordPress installation to another location.

To migrate your WordPress installation to a new location, instead of moving everything manually we recommend making a clone of your existing site. This will allow for an almost zero-downtime migration without the risk of losing important data.

There are many WordPress plugins that can help you with this. We have good experience with Duplicator, but any other migration plugin should work fine as well.

This guide will explain the steps necessary to migrate your existing WordPress installation to another location using the popular WordPress migration plugin Duplicator.

Note: If you have a Multisite installation of WordPress and want to migrate all sites at once using Duplicator, this requires Duplicator Pro, which is not free.

We will assume that your WordPress installation is set up on “www.mysite.com”, and that you are going to migrate it to “wordpress.mysite.com”, making it possible to use www.mysite.com to host the static version of your site.

We will also assume that you have administrator access to both locations.

1. Preparing the new location

Before starting with the migration process, make sure that the new location to host your WordPress installation is set up.

Preparing the domain

Make sure that the (sub)domain (“wordpress.mysite.com”) is created on your server and accessible.

Note: This is a great moment to restrict access to the new location to prevent anyone from accessing the cloned WordPress installation.

Preparing the database

Since we will be cloning your current WordPress installation to the new location, a new (empty) database will need to be created as well. Note the database details since we will need these when restoring the clone.

2. Create Duplicator Backup

The first thing we will need to do is to install the Duplicator migration plugin on your current WordPress installation.

  1. From the Dashboard, click Plugins > Add New.
  2. In the Search field, enter Duplicator and choose Duplicator – WordPress Migration Plugin to install.
  3. After installation click Activate.

After the plugin is activated a Duplicator menu item will be visible within your WordPress admin. Click on the Duplicator menu and then click on the Add New button to create a new backup.

Duplicator's New Backup step: the backup name format, the default local storage, the Backup Filters and Installer panels, and the Next button.

Click Next. Duplicator will now run some tests to verify whether everything is in order. Review the scan results and, if everything is okay, click the Create Backup button at the bottom.

Duplicator scan results: every setup and archive check Good, Archive Encryption flagged as a notice, and the Create Backup button.

Duplicator will now start creating a backup of your WordPress installation, which may take a few minutes depending on the size of your site.

The Duplicator Backups list while the new backup is being built, with its progress bar and Stop Build.

After the backup has been built, download both the Installer and Archive files (Download > Both Files), which you will need later. The archive file contains your complete WordPress site and the installer file allows you to extract the archive on the new location.

The finished backup in the Duplicator Backups list with its Download menu open: Both Files, Installer and Archive.

3. Extracting Duplicator Backup

To extract the Duplicator backup at the new location, upload both the Installer and Archive files created earlier to the new location of your WordPress installation. Duplicator names the installer after the backup; upload it as installer.php, the name this guide uses below.

FileZilla connected to the new location's server, sftp.mysite.com, with the downloaded ZIP archive and installer.php on the left and the same two files uploaded to its root on the right.

Once uploaded, open the installer in your browser:

https://wordpress.mysite.com/installer.php

This will present the Duplicator installer. Under Setup, enter the details of the new database that you created earlier.

The Duplicator installer's first step, Database Connection: action Empty Database, host localhost, the new database's name and user, and its password masked.

Under Site Details, verify that the new URL matches the URL of the new location (in this case https://wordpress.mysite.com) and keep the rest the same.

Site Details in the Duplicator installer: the site title, the new site URL https://wordpress.mysite.com, the new path and the archive action.

Click on Validate. If the validation passes, check the checkbox to accept the terms & notices, click on Next and confirm with OK.

The Duplicator installer's validation passed on every check, with the terms and notices accepted and the Next button.

Duplicator will now extract all of the files and database tables on the new location using the uploaded Archive file. When Duplicator finishes the migration, you can log in to your cloned WordPress installation.

Step 2 of 2 of the Duplicator installer, Test Site: the Admin Login button, the final steps warning and an install result that is good on every line.

Note: Make sure to delete both the Archive and Installer files after finishing to prevent anyone from downloading a complete copy of your site.

The original WordPress installation on your public-facing site (www.mysite.com) will later be replaced by the static version of your site. For now it is best to leave it as it is.

Restrict access to WordPress

It is important to prevent the dynamic WordPress version of your site from being publicly accessible since that could cause duplicate content, hurt your site’s SEO and expose your WordPress installation to attacks.

The easiest way to accomplish this is by using HTTP basic authentication. HTTP basic authentication protects resources or routes with a username and password. When anyone attempts to access the protected resource, their browser pops up a dialog asking for credentials before sending anything over.

Another way is to restrict access to the site based on the visitor’s IP address. In that case, make sure that the server’s IP address is allowed, since our plugin needs to be able to access the site in order to generate the static version.

Setting up HTTP basic authentication

Setting up HTTP basic authentication differs depending on your hosting environment. Many hosting providers offer a control panel with built-in capabilities to enable HTTP basic authentication.

Here are a couple of examples:

In case you are managing your server without a control panel, we have collected the following resources to help you.

Determine deployment strategy

Staatic allows you to publish your static site to the same server that hosts your WordPress installation as well as to any of the supported cloud providers, including Staatic Cloud.

Depending on the deployment strategy that you choose, additional preparation might be needed. Please check the documentation of the chosen deployment method for more information.