Welcome to Servebolt! This article will help you get started properly with a new or already existing Servebolt-powered site on our Bolts.
- Create an account
- Create a site
- Migrating over your site
Create an account
If you’ve not already created an account, registering one is super easy and can be done right here.
After you have created your account, you can create your first Bolt – we also offer Free Bolts for testing. If you’re not familiar with what a Bolt is, you can learn more about what a Bolt is in this article. You can also learn more about creating a Bolt here.
Once you have your Bolt set up, it’s time to create your first site!
Create a site
There are two different scenarios when you have just created an empty site:
- Install a fresh and new CMS installation
- Migrate over an existing site
Installing a new CMS
Before you start this process outlined below, it’s good to know you’ll need the database credentials as well. You can find the database credentials at the bottom of the email you received when you created a site on your Bolt.
When you are starting from scratch, you can install your preferred CMS like you would normally do per the given CMS instructions.
In most cases, to do that, you’ll have to upload your CMS to the ~/public folder. You can find the information to connect to your site via SFTP in the confirmation email you have received upon creating your site.
- Connecting to your site. In order to upload your CMS files – learn more about which CMS we offer besides WordPress, Drupal, and Magento here – you’ll need to connect to your site with an FTP client first. Learn more about how to do that here.
- Once you’ve successfully connected to your site, it’s now time to upload your CMS files.
Installing a CMS using the CLI
Alternatively, you can use the command line to install your CMS of choice. You’ll need to connect to your site via SSH first.
If you want to install WordPress or Magento 2, we offer command line tools specifically for those CMSes as well.
Migrating over an existing site
When you already have an existing site and you want to move it over to us, you’ll need to physically move over the database and CMS files. There are two ways of doing this:
- You can handle the migration yourself, or
- Use our Migration Service
Migrate on your own
If you want to take care of migrating your site over yourself, you’ll most likely need a backup of your current installation or create a direct transfer from your current server to your new Servebolt-powered site.
- We offer various tutorials on migrating sites over in the Help Center.
- Optional: we support Git as well and if you already have your site in Git version control, deploying your site via Git is the easiest way.
- If you have migrated a WordPress site, you’ll have to do some cleaning up as well. Learn all about it in our Optimizing WordPress on Servebolt article.
- Lastly, you’ll need to import your database. Learn more about how to import your database here.
If the above options are too technical for you, feel free to make use of our free migration service outlined below.
Using our Migration Service
We offer a free and white-glove migration service to get you moved in properly. Feel free to reach out to us and submit your request. One of support agents will contact you and help you move in properly.
Last but not least, should you have any additional questions regarding our service, don’t hesitate to reach out to us on chat. Our chat can be found in the bottom-right corner of our website, or by going to this link.
