Migrating in
Migrate from a control panel
Running your sites on cPanel, Plesk, or DirectAdmin? Lofenta can move them across. You connect once over SSH, and Lofenta reads every site in the account, works out what each one runs, and brings the files and the database over as their own Lofenta projects. Available on the Developer and Team plans.
What it does
A control panel host keeps all your sites in one account. This migration walks that account, finds each site, and turns it into a managed Lofenta project. For every site it copies the files, brings the database into a managed Lofenta database, points the site at that database, and deploys it. You end up with the same sites running on Lofenta, each with its own logs, restarts, and backups.
Which panels and apps
Lofenta migrates from the three most common control panels: cPanel, Plesk, and DirectAdmin.
For each site it also detects the application, so it can move the right database and rewire the config correctly. It recognizes:
- WordPress, from
wp-config.php. - Joomla and WHMCS, from
configuration.php. - phpBB, from
config.php. - MyBB, from
inc/config.php. - Laravel, from
.env. - Any other PHP site. The files and, when Lofenta can find its database, the database come across too. You then point the site at the new database.
What comes across
Two things move for each site: the site files (everything under the document root) and the site database. Lofenta reads the database name and login from the site's own config, exports the database, and loads it into a fresh managed Lofenta database. It then rewrites the site's config to point at the new database, so the site connects on the first deploy without you editing anything.
What stays where it is: your email accounts, DNS records, and mail service are not touched. Your domain keeps pointing at your old host until you choose to move it to Lofenta.
How Lofenta connects
Lofenta connects the same way you would from a terminal, over SSH, using a key instead of a password. Every Lofenta account has its own key. You copy the public half into the authorized_keys file on your server, and Lofenta connects with the private half. We never ask for your server password and never store one.
Host and port
The address of your server, for example 203.0.113.10 or server.example.com, and the SSH port, almost always 22.
Username
On cPanel and DirectAdmin, enter the account username, the same account that holds the key in its authorized_keys file. On Plesk, leave it blank: Plesk keeps every subscription at the server level, so Lofenta can list them all in one go.
Step by step
- Open the import page, switch to the Import from Webhost tab, and choose your control panel.
- Copy your Lofenta key and add it to the
authorized_keysfile on your server, under the user you connect as. - Enter the host, port, and username, then start the scan.
- Review the sites Lofenta found, each tagged with the app it detected, and pick the ones to move.
- Lofenta creates a project and a managed database for each, brings the files and data across, and deploys. That is it.
Security
- Key based, never a password. Lofenta connects with an SSH key that is unique to your account and stored encrypted. You control the public key you added.
- Read only. The migration reads your files and database to copy them. It does not change anything on your old server.
- Revoke any time. When the migration is done you can remove the Lofenta line from your
authorized_keysfile, and Lofenta can no longer connect. - Safe targets only. Lofenta blocks private and internal addresses, so the connection can only reach a real, reachable server.