Knowledge Base

How to copy website content hosted on Plesk to another domain or to an external FTP storage

Question

How to copy website content to another domain in Plesk?
How to copy website content to external FTP storage?

Answer

Website Copying feature can be used in order to copy websites files to another site hosted under the same account or to FTP storage.

Such copying is useful if this is a production website and you plan to make major site changes. In such a case, you can clone the site to a staging environment and let your designers and programmers work on the clone without interrupting the operations of the production site.

Copying the site files is a part of cloning the site: you will also need to copy databases used by the site to complete the cloning. If you do not have another site to use as a staging environment, you can add a domain or a subdomain for that purpose.

Note: The Website Copying option is available in the Active List view and is disabled by default in the Dynamic List. To make this option visible in the Dynamic List view edit the Panel.ini file and add two lines below there:
[dynamicList]
enableFeatures = sitecopy

How to copy website content to another domain in Plesk?

Note: if it is required to copy the WordPress website it is recommended to use the WordPress cloning feature instead of Website Copying.

Let's assume that copy performs from example.com to example.org. Both domains exist under the same account.

Log into Plesk.
Go to Domains > example.com > Website Copying.
Specify the following settings on the page:
- The Website in Plesk.
- Select the destination domain in the Site name dropdown menu - example.org.
- Select the required option for the What to do with existing files:
  - Keep existing files on the destination site
    
    It will overwrite existing files with coinciding file names on the destination site.
  - Delete all existing files
    
    It will delete all files on the destination site before copying.
Press the OK button to start the copying process.

How to copy website content to external FTP storage in Plesk?

Note: Website Copying feature transfers website content only. Databases are not transferred.

Log into Plesk.
Go to Domains > example.com > Website Copying.
Select the FTP storage radio button.
Specify the following settings on the page:
- Server host name
  
  Specify the hostname of the FTP storage, e.g. my.ftp.storage.com.
- Port
  
  The default port is 21. Use another one if a custom port is used.
- Directory
  
  Specify the directory on the FTP storage to which the website will be saved, e.g. /backup/example.com.
- Username
  
  Specify the username which is used for logging into the FTP storage, e.g. johndoe.
- Password
  
  Specify the password which is used for logging into the FTP storage, e.g. password.
- FTP connection method
  
  Select one of the two options according to the requirements:
  - Active mode (recommended)
    
    Plesk sends its IP address and port number on which it will listen to an external server, and the server initiates the TCP…