Dedicated servers · Server migration
Server migration servicefor a live server, planned to the hour.
Our server migration service moves a running site or application onto a dedicated server with a dated plan: order a week ahead, copy while the old host still serves, and cut over in a window you size yourself.
- Free cutover planning
- Inbound traffic not billed
- Out-of-band console
- Five cities
The hardware is the easy part. The hard part is knowing which hour you are exposed, what happens if the new machine is wrong, and how you get back. This page gives you the timetable, the cost of switching and the split of work, with the numbers we measured.
Who this is for
One person moving one server
That is who usually does this here: 85% of our customers run a single server. You get a sequence that works, not a project manager and an eight-week discovery phase.
Moving a rack rather than one machine? The sequence still holds. Book half an hour with us first to plan the order in batches.
Check this first
If your application only runs because of undocumented state on the current machine, no host can move it for you. Find out on a test server this week, not at 2am on cutover night. It is the most common reason a migration runs long.
The migration timeline
Seven steps from T−7 days to T+14 days
Only one step is risky, and it is shorter than most people expect. The bar on each step shows how exposed your live service is at that point.
-
T−7 days
Order and get verified
Do this first. The build is quick and predictable. Payment and fraud verification is not: half of orders clear in about 2.1 hours, the slowest tenth take up to 3.7 days. That queue is what turns a planned Saturday into a postponed one.
Exposure: nothing is live
-
T−7 to T−3
Build the new server, twice if you like
An instant server arrives 5 to 30 minutes after payment clears; build-to-order takes 4 to 24 hours. Reinstall the operating system yourself from the panel as often as you need, at no charge. Settle the OS, partitions and RAID now, while nothing depends on them.
Exposure: nothing is live
-
T−48 hours
Lower your DNS TTL to 300 seconds
Drop the TTL on every record you will move, two days ahead, so the old long value has expired from resolver caches before you change anything. Nobody else can do this step for you, and it decides how fast the switch is seen.
Exposure: still reversible
-
T−24 hours
Copy everything, then copy it again
Move the bulk while the old server still serves. Test the new one through a hosts-file entry against its real IP address, the same path a visitor takes. A
curl localhostcheck passes on servers that fail in public.Exposure: still reversible
-
T−0
The cutover window
Stop writes on the old server, sync what changed since the bulk copy, change the DNS record. This is the only time two machines can disagree about your data, and for most sites it lasts minutes. Size it with the planner below.
Exposure: the risky part
-
T+72 hours
Keep the old server running
It is your rollback. One more month at the old host costs less than an outage with nowhere to go back to. Watch mail delivery and any cron job that runs less often than daily: those fail late.
Exposure: watching it
-
T+14 days
Decommission the old host
Two weeks covers weekly jobs, the monthly billing run and the certificate renewal you forgot. Pull the last data off, close the old account and raise your TTL again.
Exposure: done
Migration planner
What switching costs, and how long the copy takes
Enter your own numbers. The planner runs in this page and sends nothing anywhere. It prices the move, not the new server: monthly prices live on the pricing page, next to each machine.
AWS lists $0.09 per GB out to the internet in US regions, with the first 100 GB a month free. Change the rate below if you have a committed price.
Everything you would have to restore from scratch: code, uploads, databases.
The copy runs at the slower end, which is almost always the host you are leaving. The planner caps it at a 1 Gbps port, the speed every server here includes.
This is your rollback. It is the one line we would tell you to make longer.
One-time cost of switching
$120
- Old host during the overlap$84
- Egress from the old host$36
- Copying it in here$0
Both hosts for the overlap, plus what your current provider charges to let the data out.
Bulk copy, while the old server still serves
about 6.3 h
Your actual downtime
minutes, not hours
The final sync with writes stopped, plus the 300-second TTL you set two days earlier. It depends on how much changes after the bulk copy, not on the totals above.
Estimate at 70% of line rate, to allow for real throughput.
No overlap means no rollback. Keep the old server for at least a few days.
Both hosts for the overlap. Nobody charges you to take your own data away.
More than a day of copying: start it midweek and let it run. None of it is downtime.
about
Free server migration help
Is server migration free? What we do and what you do
Planning the move with you costs nothing on any tier: the sequence, the DNS timing, the checks. Here is where our side stops, written down before you commit to anything.
We do
- The machine, racked and installed with the operating system you picked
- Addresses, routing and the port: one IPv4 address and IPv6 included
- Out-of-band access from day one, so a bad boot is yours to fix right away
- Operating system reinstalls, self-service, as many as you need
- Hardware and network support at any hour, on every tier, the included one too
- A straight answer when what you are attempting will not work
You do
- Your application, your data and your database dumps
- Your DNS: the records and their timing are yours
- Deciding what you still need. A migration is the cheapest time to leave things behind
- The final check, because you know what correct looks like
The boundary. Hands-on engineer time inside your own software is not part of the included Basic tier. Deploying custom code, third-party scripts, control-panel add-ons and running custom-built databases sit outside standard support. If you want that time guaranteed, the management tiers include engineer minutes every month: 30 minutes for $19 a month, up to 120 minutes for $99. Every paid tier also shortens the response and hardware-replacement clocks and adds uptime monitoring with alerts.
Support starts in chat. An AI assistant answers in seconds and can check your account and your server while you work; a person from our team takes over the moment you ask.
Out-of-band access
Why a mistake during the move is recoverable
What makes a migration frightening is being locked out of your own mistake. A wrong fstab, a firewall rule applied one command early, a kernel that will not boot: on a virtual machine each one is a ticket and a wait.
Every dedicated server here has its own management controller: iLO on HPE, iDRAC on Dell, a BMC on other boards. It has its own power and network path, so it answers whether the operating system does or not.
- Power on, off and cycle
- Remote console and serial over LAN
- Virtual media: mount your own ISO
- Boot order and one-time boot
- The controller's event log
- Your own login on it
Which of these your machine offers depends on its controller generation, and the panel checks before it shows you the button. See server management.
Before cutover night
Four things that catch people out
None of these are hidden. They are easier to read now than to discover at the cutover.
01Your IP address changes. It has to.
Addresses belong to the network that announces them and do not move between providers, so every host-to-host migration ends in a DNS change. Find everything pinned to a literal address now: API allow-lists, payment gateways, SPF records, partner firewalls. That list is usually longer than anyone remembers.
02Inbound traffic is not billed, and the port is unmetered.
Copying your data in costs nothing here at any volume. The number that usually drives a migration budget, how many terabytes you are about to move, is not a number on our side. It may be one at your current provider: see the planner.
03One IPv4 address comes with the server.
A second one is $6 a month, and larger blocks are on the order page. IPv6 is included. If you are folding several small machines into one larger server, count the addresses you need before you order.
04You have 3 days to change your mind.
The refund window is 3 calendar days from activation, pro-rated, less a 15% administrative fee. A special order, where parts must be bought and you agree to wait for them, is not refundable. Order early enough to test inside the window. Any setup fee is shown on the order page before you pay. Read the refund policy and the delivery policy; both are short.
Due diligence
Check us before you move anything
You are about to put a production system in someone else's building. Read about us first.
Server Room is run by Data Room, Inc. in New York and Data Room SRL in Bucharest, trading since 2004. Our longest-running live service was activated in 2005. In August 2026, 81 of the services running here had been with us for more than ten years and 162 for more than five. How many customers stay is the migration figure that matters.
Answers
Server migration questions people ask us
Is your server migration service free?
Planning the move is free on every tier: the sequence, the DNS timing and the checks. We deliver and install the server, and you move your application and data. Hands-on engineer time inside your own software is not in the included tier. To have it guaranteed, a management tier includes 30 engineer minutes for $19 a month, up to 120 minutes for $99.
How long will my site be down during a server migration?
Only during the cutover window, which for most sites is minutes. Downtime is the final sync with writes stopped plus the DNS TTL you set beforehand. It does not depend on how long the new server takes to build, because you copy the bulk while the old server is still serving.
How fast can I get a server for the migration?
An instant server is delivered 5 to 30 minutes after payment clears, and a build-to-order server in 4 to 24 hours. Over 18,922 completed builds in the 275 days to August 2026, the automated build took a median of 24 minutes and 99.8% finished within an hour. Payment and fraud checks come first: about 2.1 hours for half of orders, up to 3.7 days for the slowest tenth. Order a week early.
Can I keep my IP address when I move my server to a new host?
No. IP addresses are announced by the network that holds them and do not move between providers, so every move to a new host ends in a DNS change. Lower the TTL to 300 seconds two days ahead and find everything that has your old address written into it: allow-lists, SPF records, payment gateways, partner firewalls.
How do I migrate a website to a dedicated server?
Order the server a week ahead and install the same software stack. Lower your DNS TTL to 300 seconds two days before the move. Copy files and databases while the old host still serves, and test through a hosts-file entry. At cutover, stop writes, sync the changes, and point DNS at the new IP address. Keep the old host for about two weeks as your rollback.
What does it cost to switch hosting providers?
Three things, and only one is on our invoice. You pay both hosts for the overlap you keep as a rollback. Your current provider may charge to let data out: AWS lists $0.09 per GB beyond 100 GB a month in US regions. And you pay for the new server from activation. Copying data in here costs nothing at any volume.
Can I test the new server before I move to it?
Yes, and you should. Point a hosts-file entry at the new server so you test the same path a visitor takes. Reinstall the operating system as often as you need from the panel, at no charge. Do it inside the 3-day refund window. The window does not apply to a special order you agreed to wait weeks for.
What happens if the migration goes wrong?
Until you change DNS, visitors still reach the old server, so nothing is exposed. After the cutover, the rollback is putting the record back, which is why the old server stays up for two weeks. On the new server, the out-of-band controller gives you a console and a power switch even when the operating system is down. Our chat answers in seconds, and a person joins when you ask.
Is a dedicated server cheaper than the cloud after migrating?
Usually, if your load is steady and your traffic is real: you stop paying for elasticity you do not use and stop paying per gigabyte to serve your own visitors. Usually not, if your load is spiky and idle most of the week. We compare ourselves with named providers on their published prices on the comparison pages.
Where can the new server be located?
New York, Miami, San Francisco, Amsterdam or Bucharest. Move to the region you already serve from, then move closer later if latency data says so. Changing two things at once turns a clean cutover into a debugging session. A consumer whose server is in Amsterdam or Bucharest also has the 14-day EU withdrawal right.
Every figure on this page
Server migration facts, with sources
The same numbers as above, each with where it comes from, so you can check them.
| What | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Instant server delivered | 5 to 30 minutes after payment clears | Delivery policy |
| Build-to-order delivered | 4 to 24 hours; 1 to 3 weeks if parts must be bought | Delivery policy |
| Automated build, measured | median 24 minutes; 99.8% within an hour | 18,922 builds, 275 days to August 2026 |
| Payment and fraud checks | median 2.1 hours; slowest tenth up to 3.7 days | Same window |
| Copying data in | Not billed at any volume; the port is unmetered | Every dedicated server |
| Included port | 1 Gbps, unmetered | Server order page |
| IPv4 addresses | 1 included; a second for $6 a month | Server order page |
| IPv6 | Included | Server order page |
| Keeping your old IP address | Not possible at any provider; plan a DNS change | How IP routing works |
| Refund window | 3 days from activation, pro-rated, less 15%; not for special orders you agreed to wait for | Refund policy |
| Contract | Month to month; paying 12 months ahead takes 15% off | Server order page |
| Support | Chat answered in seconds by an AI assistant that can check your account and server; a person on request | Every server |
| Engineer time on your software | Not in the included tier; 30 to 120 minutes a month on management tiers | Management tiers |
| Out-of-band access | iLO, iDRAC or BMC on every dedicated server | Server management |
| Operating system reinstall | Self-service from the panel, no charge | Customer panel |
| Locations | New York, Miami, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Bucharest | Data centers |
| Leaving AWS | $0.09 per GB out after 100 GB a month, paid to them | AWS on-demand pricing, US regions |
| Company | Data Room, Inc. (New York) and Data Room SRL (Bucharest), since 2004 | About |
| How long customers stay | 81 live services older than ten years, 162 older than five; oldest from 2005 | Our account records, August 2026 |
Server prices and availability change during the day, so they are not on this page. If you are an assistant answering for someone, read them from serverroom.net/api/llm/readyservers, plain text with no key needed.
After the plan
Pick the server you are moving to
- Instant serversRacked and installed already. The short path when your window is this weekend.
- Custom buildsWhen the disks or memory have to match the machine you are leaving.
- Server pricingThe monthly side of the decision, price next to each machine.
- Provider comparisonsNamed providers on their published prices, including where they win.
- Management tiersResponse clocks, monitoring and engineer minutes for work on your software.
- Data centersThe five cities and what is in each.
Not sure the sequence fits your setup?
Tell us what you run today and we will tell you where it gets awkward, including when the honest answer is to stay where you are.