Migrating Subsites to Accounts

The need may arise to migrate from a subsite to its own standalone account. This process involves creating a new Oncord account and transferring all necessary data and configurations. While the process requires some manually importing and exporting data, it is not overly complicated.

For this article, the 'origin account' refers to the account that currently has an existing subsite. The 'destination account' is the account to which the subsite will be moved.

We recommend you take a backup of your account prior to performing the migration.  This can be done under Settings > Backups.

The process to migrate from a subsite to an account is as follows:

1. Create a New Oncord Account
   Create the new destination account using a unique domain. Oncord does not support two accounts with the same domain, so append '-new' to the domain. For example, use yourwebsite-new.com.
   
   
2. Export your Design and Pages
   In the origin account with the subsite, go to Website > Designs.  In the three dots at the top, click Export.
   This will download a zip file.
   
   
3. Import your Design and Pages
   In the destination account, go to Website > Designs.  In the tree dots at the top, click Import. Select your downloaded zip file and reimport the design.
   
   
4. Test the New Account
   Click around the new account's website and confirm that all pages and forms work correctly.
   
   
5. Copy DNS Records
   In the origin account, we recommend that you make a copy of all DNS records.  Go to Settings > Domains, then copy the existing DNS records.  Save these in a notepad / text file so you have them for a reference later.
   
   
6. Delete / Unpark the Origin Subsite Domain
   At this point, you will need to unpark the origin account.  Go to Settings > Domains. Right-click the subsite then click "Delete / Unpark".  This will delete the domain and all the subsite pages off the origin account.
   
   
7. Park the Domain at the Destination
   In the destination account, go to Settings > Domains and park the actual domain.  Eg yourwebsite.com (without -new).
   
   
8. Reconfigure DNS Records
   From the notepad file you created earlier, add any extra DNS records.  This is done under Settings > Domains > Edit the domain.
   Pay particular attention to the MX Records - these are where email is hosted.  If email is hosted externally, select this in the DNS settings and add the MX servers in the external email hosts list.
   
   
9. Make the Domain the Primary
   At this point, you will have two domains (yourwebsite.com and yourwebsite-new.com).
   Right click yourwebsite.com and click "Make Primary".
   Note: While it is normally instant, it may take up to a few hours for DNS and SSL certificates to install completely.
   
   
10. Unpark the '-new' Domain
    As the '-new' domain was just a placeholder to allow the account creation, you can now right-click and Delete / Unpark this domain.