A full cPanel migration brings across far more than just your web files. This article lists exactly what transfers so you know what to expect — and flags the small number of things you may need to set up fresh on the new server.
What comes across automatically
- Website files — everything in your home and document roots, with permissions intact
- Databases — all MySQL/MariaDB databases, with their names preserved exactly
- Database users and grants — so your apps connect without config changes
- Email accounts — mailboxes, passwords, and stored messages
- Email routing — forwarders, autoresponders, and filters
- DNS zone records — your A, CNAME, MX, TXT and other records
- Cron jobs — scheduled tasks and their timing
- Addon and subdomains — all domains attached to the account
wp-config.php keep working unchanged — there’s nothing to edit after the move.What you set up fresh
A few things are tied to the old server or to external services and are re-established on iWebVault rather than copied byte-for-byte:
- SSL certificates — iWebVault issues fresh free SSL via AutoSSL once DNS points here
- Server IP — your site gets a new IP on iWebVault, which is exactly why DNS needs updating
- Third-party integrations tied to the old IP (rare) may need their allow-lists updated
The primary domain note
For single-account migrations into a provisioned account, the destination account’s primary domain becomes the domain you’re bringing over. That’s expected — see the dedicated article on why the primary domain changes.
A closer look at file transfer
The migration brings your entire home directory: document roots, upload folders, custom scripts, .htaccess files, and hidden configuration files. File permissions and ownership are reproduced so that anything relying on specific permissions — upload directories, cache folders, lock files — keeps behaving the same way. You don’t have to re-set permissions after the move.
Email in detail
For mail kept in cPanel, the migration brings the mailboxes themselves, their passwords, and the stored messages, plus the routing rules around them: forwarders, autoresponders, and filters. After you cut DNS over, mail addressed to your domain is delivered into these same mailboxes on iWebVault. The one nuance is the propagation window, covered in the email-continuity article, where mail can briefly arrive at either server.
DNS records that come across
Your zone’s records migrate so that when you switch to iWebVault’s nameservers, the records you depend on are already in place — your A records, CNAMEs, MX records for mail routing, TXT records for SPF and verification, and any others. You should still review them after cutover to confirm anything pointing at the old server’s IP is updated to the new one.
Things genuinely outside the migration
To be complete and honest about scope: anything not stored in your cPanel account isn’t part of a cPanel migration. That includes external email providers, remote databases, third-party CDNs, and services hosted on entirely separate platforms. None of these are lost — they simply aren’t inside the account being moved, so they carry on as they are or are pointed at iWebVault separately.
Verifying the transfer was complete
After the migration completes, the post-migration checklist walks you through confirming each category — files, databases, email, crons, domains — is present before you cut over. Doing that five-minute check while your old site is still live means any gap is caught with zero pressure.
Permissions and ownership
Beyond the files themselves, the migration preserves file permissions and ownership so that anything depending on specific permission bits keeps working. Upload directories that need to be writable stay writable; protected files stay protected. You shouldn’t have to manually reset permissions after a standard migration — they arrive as they were.
Cron jobs and scheduled tasks
Scheduled tasks are easy to forget because they run silently in the background. The migration brings your cron jobs across with their commands and timing intact, so the report that emails every Monday, the cache that clears nightly, or the backup script that runs at 3am all continue on iWebVault. After cutover, glance at the Cron Jobs section to confirm they’re present and that any paths inside them still make sense.
A practical ‘what transfers’ summary
If you want the one-paragraph version to reassure yourself or a client: everything inside your hosting account moves — your website files with their permissions, all databases with their original names and users, your email accounts and stored messages, your forwarders and filters, your DNS zone records, your cron jobs, and all your domains and subdomains. What’s re-established fresh is your SSL certificate (issued automatically after cutover) and your server IP (which is why DNS needs updating). Anything living outside cPanel — external email, remote databases, third-party CDNs — carries on independently or is pointed at iWebVault separately.
Verifying nothing was missed
The post-migration checklist exists precisely to confirm each category arrived before you cut over. Because your old site stays live during verification, you can be exhaustive without any time pressure — and catching a gap then is trivial to fix, whereas catching it after cutover means it briefly affected real visitors.
Key takeaways
Everything inside your cPanel account moves: files with their permissions, all databases with original names and users, email accounts and stored messages, forwarders and filters, DNS records, cron jobs, and every domain and subdomain. SSL is reissued fresh by AutoSSL after cutover, and your server IP changes — which is exactly why DNS needs updating. Anything outside cPanel (external email, remote databases, third-party CDNs) carries on independently.
How can I be sure nothing was left behind?
Run the post-migration checklist while your old site is still live: load the site, check the database-driven parts, confirm email accounts, spot-check files and uploads, and review cron jobs. Verifying before cutover means any gap is caught with no pressure and fixed before a single visitor is affected.
What’s next
Still stuck? Our team can run or finish the migration for you — open a support ticket and we’ll take it from there.
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