Moving your OpenCart Store from one server to another is the basically the same procedure as moving your store from development into production (or live).
Here are the steps that you need to accomplish this task. We are using phpMyAdmin for our database
Moving from development into production while preserving your development environment (Best):
- Install OpenCart in your new environment with a new database. This will create the config.php files that you will need that will have the proper paths for that environment.
- Dump your development database into a SQL file containing DROP / CREATE / INSERT statement with data.
- Import your development SQL file into the new production database.
- Clear the cache of OpenCart, VQMOD and your browsers. If you are using VQMOD and don't clear the VQMOD cache, all old paths will remain in the code that VQMOD manages.
- Install any MOD's extensions from your development area into your production environment.
- Login to the admin panel to change all store URL settings to match the new location (URL)
Moving from development into production while preserving your development environment but NOT the database (Dirty):
- Backup your development environment software.
- Upload your development backup software to your production environment.
- Change the config.php files to point to your production environment using the same development database.
- Clear the cache of OpenCart, VQMOD and your browsers. If you are using VQMOD and don't clear the VQMOD cache, all old paths will remain in the code that VQMOD manages.
- Login to the admin panel to change all store URL settings to match the new location (URL)
More Helpful Information (https://randemsystems.support/opencart/)