It seems digital ocean doesn't allow you to download a full local copy of the site, and it isn't clear how to point mysql to another webhost either. Any tips?
Hey there
Please check out the article below ,it might help
http://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-move-wordpress-to-a-new-host-or-server-with-no-downtime/
DigitalOcean does not block anyone from migrating their websites / applications around - WordPress included.
There are a few ways to do so - this is one.
cd /PATH/TO/WEBROOT DBNAME=$(grep DB_NAME "wp-config.php" | cut -d "'" -f 4); \
DBUSER=$(grep DB_USER "wp-config.php" | cut -d "'" -f 4); \
DBPASS=$(grep DB_PASSWORD "wp-config.php" | cut -d "'" -f 4); \
mysqldump -u${DBUSER} -p${DBPASS} ${DBNAME} > ${DBNAME}.sql
This will drop a copy of your database into the same directory as your wordpress installation. Please note this works only for a standard WordPress installation - This can also be done quite easily with phpMyAdmin if it is available.
zip -r ../html.zip /PATH/TO/WEBROOTThis will place a *.zip archive one directory up.
move the archive to the new server scp ../html.zip USERNAME@IP_OR_HOSTNAME:/PATH/TO/WEBROOT
Leave your droplet
Within the new host create your new database using whichever tool is available or proffered
ssh into your new host and cd /PATH/TO/WEBROOT
unzip html.zip -d ./
copy the old wp-config cp wp-config.php wp-tempfile - we are only going to use this temporarily
edit the wp-config.php file updating the database connection details with that of your new host
upload the database
OLDDBNAME=$(grep DB_NAME "wp-tempfile" | cut -d "'" -f 4); \
DBNAME=$(grep DB_NAME "wp-config.php" | cut -d "'" -f 4); \
DBUSER=$(grep DB_USER "wp-config.php" | cut -d "'" -f 4); \
DBPASS=$(grep DB_PASSWORD "wp-config.php" | cut -d "'" -f 4); \
mysql -u${DBUSER} -p${DBPASS} ${DBNAME} < ${OLDDBNAME}.sql
rm -v wp-tempfile html.zipPlease note that this may need to be adjusted to suite your server setup for the source and destination server and wordpress installation - i.e. you may need to install and configure NGINX/APACHE, MySQL/MariaDB etc...
Another solution is to use something like this
Thank you so much for this response. When I type in the first four commands, I get the message in putty "grep: wp-config.php: No such file or directory."
What do I do from here?
Those commands will need to be executed in the root directory of your wordpress installation. Keep in mind I am assuming you are using a standard WordPress installation and not a modified one like roots/bedrock (https://roots.io/bedrock/)
Can you give me any further advice? I'm pretty new to this putty stuff and I'm not sure how to resolve the no such file or directory issue.
wp-config.php is just the file that holds your database credentials. This file is in the same folder as your WordPress installation
You could use https://transfer.website . I use it usually to migrate Wordpress sites to/from DO for my clients.