Prepare an inventory of the whole service
A functioning website can depend on domain registration, DNS, hosting, email, media delivery, payment services and external integrations. Inventory those dependencies before copying files. Record the service name, its purpose and the person who controls it without collecting passwords in the document. A migration that preserves the homepage but breaks order notifications or renewal access has not preserved the business service the client expected.
Identify changing and retained components
Mark each dependency as moving, staying or requiring a separate decision. A website can move hosts while its mailboxes remain with the same provider. That distinction matters when editing DNS: web records may change while mail-routing records should remain intact. If ownership is unclear, resolve it before a cutover depends on that access. Do not infer permission to change an account simply because a previous developer mentioned it in a handoff note.
Capture the data timing
Record when the source snapshot was taken and what can change afterward. A static brochure and a store receiving orders need different reconciliation plans. Note scheduled jobs, imports and external services that might write to the application during the move. This inventory is not a backup by itself; it explains which data and activities must be represented in the actual transfer and which could be lost if timing is ignored.
Verify the inventory at launch
After the move, check each retained or changed dependency against its original purpose. A fictional agency should be able to explain how a form reaches the intended inbox, how an administrator signs in and who pays the next invoice. Keep the old environment available according to the approved recovery plan until the new one is accepted. The inventory then becomes a useful operating record rather than a document discarded at launch.
Sources used for this page
These records support the facts and comparisons above. Merchant-controlled records are labelled so you can separate product claims from independent evidence.
- Cloudways getting-started documentation — Merchant documentation · support.cloudways.com · Merchant-controlled · checked 2026-09-21
- Cloudways sender-domain and email DNS setup — Merchant documentation · support.cloudways.com · Merchant-controlled · checked 2026-09-21