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Moving to a dedicated server
A dedicated plan gives your site a server that runs nothing else.
If your site is on the shared platform today, upgrading moves it. This page is exactly what that means for you.
What you gain
| Shared | Dedicated | |
|---|---|---|
| SSH host key | The server's, shared with other sites on it | Yours alone |
| Security page | Platform baseline | Yours to tighten: TLS, SFTP algorithms, session limits, speed ceilings, FTPS greeting, web hardening |
Short usernames such as alice | Not available | Available when the name is unique on the server |
| FTPS goodbye message | Standard wording | Yours |
| Custom ports | Not available | Operator assisted, on request |
Three things change for you
Your SSH host key changes
A dedicated server has its own identity, and it cannot inherit the shared one without also inheriting every other customer's.
Any SFTP client that already trusts this site will refuse to connect until the new key is accepted.
Check your automated transfers first. A person sees a prompt and clicks through it; a scheduled job fails silently at 3am.
The Portal shows you the current fingerprint before you start, and the new one as soon as the move completes. Both are also on Site settings, under Advanced.
Your storage connectors reconnect
Your Connectors attach to the new server before the switch, so there is never a window without storage.
Transfers in flight at the exact moment of the switch may need to be retried.
A Connector running a version too old to be moved automatically has to be re-enrolled by hand. The Portal names them and links to the Storage page. See Enroll to your site.
It takes a few minutes
Usually under ten. You can watch it on the site's overview page, and your site keeps serving from its current server until the new one is genuinely ready.
What does not change
Your files never move. They stay in the storage you own and control. SFTP.cloud never held them and does not move them.
Your users, their passwords, their second factors, and every share link you have already sent out all carry over unchanged.
Doing it
- Open the site, choose Plan and billing, then Change plan.
- Pick a dedicated plan.
- Read the summary of what changes and acknowledge it. You are asked to confirm explicitly that you understand the SSH host key changes.
- Complete the payment.
The move starts on its own. The site's overview page shows the progress:
| Step | What is happening |
|---|---|
| Preparing | Your dedicated server is being prepared |
| Copying | Your users, permissions and share links are copied across |
| Connecting storage | Your Connectors attach to the new server |
| Switching over | Your site is switched to the new server |
| Verifying | Everything is checked to be serving correctly |
| Finishing | The old server is tidied up |
A site that has not been placed on a server yet has nothing to move: it simply starts on the dedicated one, and nothing changes for your clients.
If it stops partway
Your site is still running normally on a server that can serve it, so nothing is down. Our team is alerted automatically and finishes the move. There is nothing for you to do.
After the move
- Publish the new SSH host key fingerprint to your transfer partners, from Site settings, under Advanced.
- Check that every automated transfer reconnected. Any that did not are almost certainly waiting on the new host key.
- Visit Site security, which is now available to you.
Moving back
Dedicated to shared is not offered. A dedicated site cannot be moved back to the shared platform, and the change is refused rather than quietly ignored.
If you want to spend less, cancel the subscription and subscribe again on a shared plan. That is a clean, supported path; it just is not a migration.