Effortlessly Cloning Your Cloudways Server: A Guide to Changing Server Regions and Pricing Plans

If you have selected the wrong server region or need to change your pricing plan, it's necessary to recreate and migrate your server. With Cloudways, you can easily change your server location or switch to a lower pricing plan by cloning your server.

Please note that while upgrading to a higher plan in Cloudways is possible with just a settings change, downgrading to a lower plan requires the server cloning method.

For those looking to run a simple website or blog, you can consider cost-effective web hosting like Bluehost. However, for websites that require speed, cater to a large audience, or are essential for businesses, services like Cloudways are recommended for faster performance. When signing up for Cloudways, you can enter the promo code WPCAFE15 for a 15% discount and enjoy three days of free usage.

Effortlessly Cloning Your Cloudways Server: A Guide to Changing Server Regions and Pricing Plans

If you've selected the wrong server location (data center location) or chosen an expensive pricing plan that you want to change, or if you want to switch to another cloud provider, Cloudways offers an easy way to create a new server by cloning your existing one.

You can use the Clone (Clone Server) feature in the following situations:

  • Changing cloud providers (e.g., Amazon AWS, Vultr, DigitalOcean, Google Cloud Platform, Linode)
  • Changing server region
  • Moving to a new server or different server type
  • Switching to a smaller server size (downgrading pricing plan)
  • Load testing

How to Clone a Cloudways Server:

If you want to change the server region or switch to a lower pricing plan, you can do so by following these steps:

  1. Clone the server
  2. Change the IP address of the domain connected to the existing server (modify the A record)
  3. Add the domain to the cloned server's application (e.g., WordPress site)
  4. Install SSL certificates

It may take a few hours for the changes in the A record to take effect (in my experience, updating the A record and CNAME values in Bluehost took about 10-20 minutes, but due to the nature of DNS information, it can take from a few hours up to 2 days).

To clone a server, log in to Cloudways and click the Servers menu to access the server list page. Click the three-dot icon on the far right of the server you want to clone, and then click "Clone Server."

Effortlessly Cloning Your Cloudways Server: A Guide to Changing Server Regions and Pricing Plans

In this example, we will assume that you initially created a server with DigitalOcean 2GB in the London region and now want to change it to Vultr, High Frequency, 1GB, Seoul region.

Click "Clone Server" and a popup will ask if you are sure you want to clone the WordPress server. Click "Yes" to proceed to the screen where you can select the type, size, and location of the cloned server.

Effortlessly Cloning Your Cloudways Server - Set a different server type

Although the original server was with DigitalOcean, you can choose other cloud providers such as Vultr, Linode, AWS, or Google Cloud Platform.

You can also select a smaller server size than the original. In this case, first check your current disk usage in the Monitoring menu to ensure that the smaller server size does not exceed the provided disk capacity.

In the Location section, you have the option to set the server region. If your target audience is in South Korea, you can select Asia Pacific - Seoul. For other regions, choose the one most appropriate for your target users. At present, AWS and Vultr both support the Seoul region. With Vultr being more cost-effective, selecting Vultr, High Frequency, and the Seoul region should yield faster performance.

Once you've set the type, size, and location of the cloned server, click the "Clone Server" button to begin the cloning process. This may take about 20-30 minutes.

Upon completion of the cloning process, the cloned server will appear in the server list, with its name designated as "Cloned-[Original Server Name]."

By checking the Applications page, you'll notice that the existing applications have been replicated and allocated to the new (cloned) server. For instance, if you initially had two WordPress applications connected to your server, the cloning process will create duplicates of these applications, leading to a total of four applications.

Now, you need to update your domain's A record to point to the new server's IP address.

Access your domain registrar or DNS management service and locate the DNS settings for your domain.

Locate the A Record for your domain and update its value with the IP address of the cloned server. This information can be found in the Cloudways server management panel under the "Public IP" section.

Save the changes made to the A record.

Next, you will need to add your domain to the cloned server's application (e.g., WordPress site) and install an SSL certificate:

Log in to your Cloudways account and navigate to the "Applications" tab.
Select the application on the cloned server that you want to link to your domain.
Under the "Domain Management" section, enter your domain name and click "Save Changes."

Navigate to the "SSL Certificate" section in the application settings.
Select "Let's Encrypt" as the SSL provider, enter your email address, and click "Install Certificate."

Please note that it may take a few hours for the changes in the A record to propagate fully (in my experience, updating the A record and CNAME values in Bluehost took about 10-20 minutes, but due to the nature of DNS propagation, it can take from a few hours up to 2 days).

Once the DNS changes have fully propagated, your website will be accessible on the cloned server with the new server region or lower pricing plan, as chosen during the cloning process. You can then verify the site's functionality and ensure that everything is working correctly.

After confirming that your website is running smoothly on the cloned server, you can proceed to delete the original server. To do this, go to the "Servers" tab in your Cloudways account, click the three-dot icon next to the original server, and choose "Delete Server." Be sure to double-check before deleting, as this action is irreversible.

Limitations

Cloudways enforces a deposit equal to 50% of your selected plan for creating three or more servers to combat spam activities. If you already have two servers and opt to clone one, resulting in a total of three servers, your account will be suspended.

In such a scenario, you must either deposit 50% of your chosen plan's cost or remove an existing server(s) to resolve the issue.

When cloning a server, it typically takes around 30 minutes for the process to complete. However, if the process has not been completed even after an hour, please make sure that the total number of servers (including the cloned server) does not exceed three.

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