How to Migrate from DigitalOcean to Hostingowy — Zero Downtime Guide

Published: July 31, 2026 Author: Hostingowy Engineering Team Reading time: 8 minutes

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So you're on DigitalOcean and thinking about switching.

Maybe your UK-based users are complaining about latency. Maybe you're tired of the creeping bill — the base Droplet is $6/mo but you're paying $18 after bandwidth overages, snapshots, and load balancers. Maybe you just want a host that answers support tickets in hours, not days.

Whatever your reason, migrating VPS providers sounds stressful. DNS propagation. Data transfers. Database exports. Downtime windows. What if something breaks?

We built Hostingowy to make this easy. And we offer free migration — our engineers do it for you. But if you want to do it yourself, this guide walks you through the process step by step with zero downtime.

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Before You Start

What You'll Need

- A Hostingowy account with an active VPS (sign up at hostingowy.com — use code LAUNCH100 for first month free) - SSH access to your DigitalOcean Droplet (sudo-enabled user) - Your domain's DNS management access (Cloudflare, Namecheap, etc.) - About 30–60 minutes of focused time

The Zero Downtime Strategy

The trick is simple: keep both servers running during the migration. Your old DigitalOcean Droplet stays live serving traffic while we rsync data to your new Hostingowy VPS. Once everything is confirmed working on the new server, you flip the DNS and decommission the old one.

No maintenance windows. No "we'll be back in 2 hours" banners.

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Step 1: Provision Your Hostingowy VPS

Log into your Hostingowy dashboard
Click Create VPS
Choose a plan that matches or exceeds your current DigitalOcean Droplet specs:

Your DO Droplet	Recommended Hostingowy Plan
Basic ($6, 1GB RAM)	Starter ($5/mo — 1 vCPU, 1GB RAM, 25GB NVMe)
General Purpose ($12, 2GB RAM)	Professional ($10/mo — 2 vCPU, 2GB RAM, 50GB NVMe)
CPU-Optimized ($24, 4GB RAM)	Business ($25/mo — 4 vCPU, 4GB RAM, 80GB NVMe)
Memory-Optimized ($48, 8GB RAM)	Enterprise ($50/mo — 8 vCPU, 8GB RAM, 160GB NVMe)

Select your OS (Ubuntu 22.04 LTS recommended for most workloads)
Click Deploy — your VPS will be ready in under 60 seconds

> Note: Your Hostingowy VPS will have a new public IP address. Make a note of it — you'll need it in Step 4.

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Step 2: Prepare Your DigitalOcean Droplet

SSH into your existing Droplet:

ssh user@your-do-droplet-ip

2a. Create a Database Dump (if you use MySQL/PostgreSQL)

MySQL/MariaDB:

mysqldump -u root -p --all-databases > all_databases.sql

PostgreSQL:

pg_dumpall -U postgres > all_databases.sql

2b. List Your Web Server Config Files

Nginx:

ls /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Apache:

ls /etc/apache2/sites-available/

2c. Check Your Application Paths

Know where your application files live. Common locations: - /var/www/ - /home/user/apps/ - /opt/

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Step 3: Transfer Data to Hostingowy VPS

This is where the magic happens. We'll use rsync — it's fast, reliable, and only transfers the differences on subsequent runs (perfect for the zero-downtime overlap window).

3a. Set Up SSH Key Access

From your local machine, generate a key pair if you don't have one:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/hostingowy-migration

Copy the public key to your Hostingowy VPS:

ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/hostingowy-migration.pub root@your-hostingowy-vps-ip

3b. Rsync Your Application Files

From your local machine:

rsync -avz --progress -e "ssh -i ~/.ssh/hostingowy-migration" \
  user@your-do-droplet-ip:/var/www/ \
  root@your-hostingowy-vps-ip:/var/www/

Flags explained: - -a: Archive mode (preserves permissions, symlinks, timestamps) - -v: Verbose (see what's being copied) - -z: Compress during transfer (faster for text files) - --progress: Show progress for large files

3c. Import Databases

First, copy the dump file to your new VPS:

scp -i ~/.ssh/hostingowy-migration all_databases.sql root@your-hostingowy-vps-ip:/root/

Then SSH into your Hostingowy VPS and import:

MySQL/MariaDB:

mysql -u root -p < /root/all_databases.sql

PostgreSQL:

psql -U postgres < /root/all_databases.sql

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Step 4: Configure Your New VPS

4a. Install Web Server and SSL

SSH into your Hostingowy VPS:

ssh root@your-hostingowy-vps-ip

Nginx:

apt update && apt install -y nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx

Apache:

apt update && apt install -y apache2 certbot python3-certbot-apache

4b. Copy Configuration Files

If you backed up your Nginx/Apache configs, copy them over:

# On your Hostingowy VPS — rsync configs from old server
rsync -avz -e "ssh" user@your-do-droplet-ip:/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Then reload:

nginx -t && systemctl reload nginx

4c. Install SSL Certificate

certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com

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Step 5: Test Before You Switch

Before touching DNS, verify everything works on the new server:

Visit via IP: http://your-hostingowy-vps-ip — does your site load?
Check database connections: Can your app connect to the database on the new server?
Test SSH and any cron jobs: Are scheduled tasks running?
Check logs: tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log — any errors?

> Pro tip: Edit your local /etc/hosts file to point your domain to the new IP for testing: >

> your-hostingowy-vps-ip yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com
>

> This lets you verify the full site (SSL and all) before DNS propagates.

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Step 6: Switch DNS

Once you're confident everything works:

Lower your DNS TTL to 60 seconds (do this 24 hours before to pre-propagate)
Update your DNS A record to point to your Hostingowy VPS IP
Wait for propagation (usually 5–15 minutes with low TTL)
Verify the site loads from the new IP: curl -I https://yourdomain.com

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Step 7: Monitor and Decommission

Keep Both Servers Running for 48 Hours

This is your safety net. If something goes wrong, you can flip DNS back to DigitalOcean instantly.

During the 48-hour window: - Run a final rsync to catch any changes made since the initial transfer:

  rsync -avz --progress -e "ssh -i ~/.ssh/hostingowy-migration" \
    user@your-do-droplet-ip:/var/www/ \
    root@your-hostingowy-vps-ip:/var/www/

- Monitor your application logs and error rates - Confirm all cron jobs, email delivery, and background processes work

After 48 Hours — Decommission DigitalOcean

1. Take a final snapshot of your Droplet (just in case) 2. Cancel your DigitalOcean subscription 3. Enjoy your lower bill and better performance

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When to Let Us Do It

If this feels like too much — or you just don't want to spend 45 minutes on a Friday night migrating servers — we'll do it for you. Free.

Here's what we cover: - Full rsync of application files and configuration - Database dump, transfer, and import - DNS checklist with new IP and TTL recommendations - 48-hour overlap support (we monitor with you) - Rollback assistance if anything goes wrong

Just email support@hostingowy.com with subject "Migration Request — DigitalOcean" and include: - Your Hostingowy account email - Number of VPS instances to migrate - SSH access details (or we'll guide you through setting up a temporary key)

We typically complete simple migrations in under 2 hours.

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The Bottom Line

Migrating from DigitalOcean to Hostingowy doesn't have to be scary. Rsync + database dump + DNS flip = zero downtime. And if you don't want to do it yourself, our team handles it for free.

Better specs. Lower latency. UK-based support. Same monthly cost (or less).

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Ready to make the switch? Sign up at hostingowy.com with code LAUNCH100 for your first month free.

Questions? founders@hostingowy.com — we answer within 2 hours, even on weekends.

How to Migrate from DigitalOcean to Hostingowy (Zero Downtime Guide)