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I have a website to move from One Host to another .. for example : from bluehost to hostgator ... i have made my website zip which is 2 gb ..

i want to know if there is any software or something which allows me to upload it directly to the other host without downloading the zip to my PC and again uploading to host via ftp ???

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5 Answers 5

Technically it is possible to do a server-to-server transfer by FTP (you open control connections to each server and setup the data connections appropriately to point between each other instead of to/from your local host). I've done this manually (many years ago though) but I don't know of any "friendly" client applications that support the feature.

If either host allows you SSH access, then you could just use the ftp command line utility to send the file directly that way:

  1. login to the server via SSH
  2. change to the right directory (where the file either is or wants to go)
  3. run ftp <name_or_IP_address_of_other_server> and enter your username and password when prompted
  4. change to the directory where the file is (or wants to go) with the cd command
  5. issue the binary command to ensure that no line feed conversions (or similar) happen in the transfer
  6. issue the hash if you want a little progress indication while the file transfers
  7. if sending the file from the server you SSHed into issue the put <filename> command, and if you want to pull the file from the other server to the one you are logged into use get <filename> instead.
  8. wait... (even if you get a 100Mbit transfer between the servers, a 2Gbyte file will take a few minutes to transfer)

For more details of the command line ftp client either run man ftp on the server or look at an online copy of the man pages such as this one (though reading the server's local man page for the command is slightly safer as you know for sure it is talking about the version you have).

If both hosts allow you SSH access then it is slightly easier as in most cases SCP/SFTP will be enabled too and you can do this:

  1. log in to the server that the file needs to be copied to
  2. go to the directory where the file needs to be
  3. run a command like scp user@other.server.tld:~/path/filename .


  1. log in to the server that currently has the file
  2. run a command like scp path/to/file/filename user@other.server.tld:~/

Yet another option, if the destination server allows SSH access and the file your want to transfer to it is available via HTTP or HTTPS, is to transfer the file by HTTP(S) with wget (most hosts will have wget installed on their servers):

  2. go to the directory where the file needs to be
  3. run a command like wget http://source.server.tld/path/filename
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Technically, not usually - Most web providers just have DNS servers and not a client as FTP to FTP server is usually done for server attacks.

However, Web hosts want business and typically try to help. Why not email the tech support and see if they would be willing to download it direct to your account?

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There are some protocols out there that would support this, but I wouldn't expect them to be supported by your providers. One such mechanism, which is an extension for FTP, is FXP.

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Check if host B has Web-dav enabled, you should be able to use for example cadaver to transfer the file directly.

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You could check AutoFileMove, It allow users to move files between 2 FTP accounts without downloading files to any local devices.

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