Migrate a site from InMotion Hosting using SSH

This guide will show you how to securely share access to your site using SSH, so that you can migrate your site from InMotion to WordPress.com.

Secure Shell (SSH) is a secure way for us to connect to your current host and copy your site safely. We use it to transfer a copy of your site’s content, media, plugins, themes, and database over an encrypted connection. Your existing site will stay online and unchanged during the migration, so visitors won’t notice any disruption until you’re ready to update your domain name to the newly-migrated site.

To find the SSH details for your site, take the following steps:

1. Log in to your Account Management Panel (AMP) on InMotion Hosting.
2. Scroll down to the hosting control section for your site.
3. Click on the “Account Technical Details” option.
4. Copy the hostname or IP address here and paste it as your server address on WordPress.com:

5. Enter 22 in the Port box, unless a different number is provided by InMotion.
6. Click the “Verify server address” button.

In a few moments, we’ll validate if the details are correct for what we need to migrate a copy of your site to WordPress.com. If the details cannot be validated, please double check you have pasted the correct information or contact your host for support in obtaining the correct details.

Next, you’ll need to share your SSH details to grant WordPress.com secure access to your site to begin the migration:

1. In the “Share SSH access” section on WordPress.com, choose the SSH key authentication method.
2. Click the copy icon in the top right to copy the public key to your computer’s clipboard:

3. Return to your AMP (Account Management Panel) on InMotion.
4. Click the “Manage SSH Keys” button for your site.
5. Click the “Add Key” button and fill in the details:
   • Label: this can be a name like “WordPress.com Migration” for example.
   • Public key: paste the exact key you copied from WordPress.com.
   • Install to: select your site.
6. Click the Add Key button to install the key.
7. Once the key has been installed, return to WordPress.com and click the Continue button.