Need help ftp'ing site to new host using PHP

I am moving a web site to a new host. Neither the current nor the new host give shell access to run FTP from the shell.

I know you could use an FTP client to copy all files to my computer then copy them back to the new host but I'd rather do it directly from one to the other.

How would one initiate the FTP command from a PHP script? Maybe the EXEC function could be used?

Things I don't know:

- How to start something (like FTP'ing files) and have the PHP script quit while the FTP process continues. I don't want the PHP script to time out before all the files are copied.

- The actual FTP command to copy files to a new host. Like how to include the username, password, etc.

Thanks,

 

Use Beyond Compare to lift it over 1:1. That way you can also verify each file went over correctly.

Using PHP would be way more effort than a quick Beyond Compare. They offer free trial (no limit) but it's well worth buying.

Basically an FTP program with two simultaneous connections.

 

Thanks for the tip, hadn't seen that program before.

 

It'll be an eye-opener. I'd place it as #1 webmaster tool - just above FireFox web developer toolbar, FileZilla and Zend Studio.

 

Thanks for the info. I'll try it soon. It's kind of weird because I saw that program for the first time recently as I upgraded some developer's computers who I support but I had no idea what it was.

 

Yeah I'm quite amazed how little known it is. It really is an essential tool if you have to control site updates etc. Really easy to compare versions and list over those changes you need. Or if your newer version turns out buggy, you caneasily compare line by line to see where you went wrong.

 

Worked great. Synched data between 2 ftp connections, no problem. Now if it would only do my databases.

 

PHPMyAdmin is your friend for that one. Export - Import. Done. Unless it's a huuuuuge one, then you'll probably end up fiddling with split exports.

 

I usually use the backup function in cpanel for transferring databases rather than going into phpmyadmin. It saves it as a gzip file and you can then upload as a gzip. Depending on the size of your database it could take a while uploading.