What’s included?
- A kickoff call to understand goals and timelines.
- Chat access to a launch expert during the planning process.
- Codebase, database, and media transfers into a VIP production environment.
- Guidance on redirect setup.
- Basic quality assurance.
- A delta import to bring content up-to-date before launch.
- A launch plan.
- A launch planning call to finalize details for launch day.
- Live chat support during launch.
Available add-ons:
Is this service for me?
This service is a good fit for customers who:
- Have an in-house development team or agency partner for full quality testing and post-launch development.
- Need to move quickly on an accelerated timeline.
Service requirements:
- WordPress-to-WordPress migrations only.
- Sites must be on the latest versions of WordPress and PHP or participate in an Upgrade Assurance service.
- All plugins and themes must be compliant with the VIP File System.
- Code and media must be compatible with the VIP platform.
How does it work?
A typical service takes around four weeks, depending on source site access, customer quality assurance time, and launch readiness.
| Phase | VIP will: | Customer will: |
|---|---|---|
| 5-10 business days Preparation | Share Pre-Migration Checklist. Confirm site details. | Complete Pre-Migration Checklist to prepare your site for migration to VIP. |
| 1 business day Kickoff | Lead kickoff call to align on goals, timelines, and technical details. | Attend kickoff. Share site technical details. |
| 5 business days Discovery | Confirm access to source site. Review site for roadblocks to migration. | Provide access to source site. |
| 10 business days Migration | Migrate codebase, database and media to VIP. | Prepare quality assurance and testing plan. |
| 5 business days QA | Confirm basic functionality. Deliver migrated site. Prepare launch plan. | Perform full quality assurance and testing. Make needed adjustments. Confirm launch date and time. |
| 5 business days Launch | Conduct final database and media import to bring your content current. Complete launch while on live chat. | Confirm site has launched. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you offer Migration & Launch Day service for non-WordPress Sites?
At this time the service only supports WordPress-to-WordPress migrations.
Do you offer live support on weekends?
We strongly advise against weekend launches, as they tend to be less successful for several key reasons.
- Lower traffic levels on weekends can obscure performance issues. For instance, a Saturday launch might appear fine but could reveal problems by Monday morning when traffic increases. We recommend launching with typical traffic, so we can monitor for issues effectively.
- We recommend launching Monday to Thursday, 09:00 – 23:00 UTC, for optimal support coverage. This ensures our team is available to quickly address any issues that may arise during the launch, and throughout the subsequent business day. Outside this window, staff availability is reduced.
What happens if a customer needs technical assistance during a launch?
Your primary contact during the launch will be your Technical Account Manager (TAM). While TAMs can assist with many issues, they are not Support Engineers.
For complex technical challenges requiring engineering expertise, please submit an urgent support ticket. To ensure quick resolutions, follow the designated support channels and provide detailed information when submitting urgent tickets.
Does the service include bug fixes during the migration or site updates post-launch?
No. The customer’s development team or agency partner is responsible for bug fixes and site updates post-launch.
This service is focused on delivering customer applications in an accurate and timely manner. WordPress VIP can not accommodate revamps to the site mid-migration, and customers are responsible for unrelated fixes unearthed during QA.
What does it mean to comply with the VIP File System and VIP platform?
To proceed with the Migration & Launch Service, your site’s themes and plugins must be compatible with the VIP File System.
Media files uploaded to a WordPress site on the VIP Platform are not stored in a filesystem local to the web container. Instead, an API stores the uploaded files in a separate read-only service called the VIP File System, an external, globally distributed object store.
PHPCS (PHP Code Sniffer) provides a convenient way to assess plugin and theme compatibility and should be run across your codebase to help surface and address business-critical themes and plugins that may otherwise not work as expected post-migration.
In addition, VIP provides out-of-the-box security and performance features that mitigate the need for third-party plugins that add similar functionality. This includes caching plugins (such as WP Rocket and w3 Total Cache), image optimization plugins (such as Smush), and security plugins (such as Sucuri and WordFence). Our documentation lists known plugin incompatibilities.
The /tmp directory is the only fully writeable path on an application’s web servers. Plugins that attempt to write to any other directory may not work as expected. Plugin operations that expect media files to be stored locally and to have write permissions within uploads/, akin to an entirely local filesystem, may not work as expected. Required write permissions have been observed in plugins such as Contact Form 7 and TablePress. You might need to work with your team on a workaround for those situations.
Resources
- Is your site ready? Check out our Pre-Migration Checklist.
- Case Study: Everhance Speeds Up with WordPress VIP Migration Service.
- Download: Migration Service Overview.
Get started with VIP Professional Services
Fill out the form to get in touch with our services team