Whats the best way to replace an old store with a new Magento store

Question

I have a Cubecart store which I am not getting enough functionality from and have decided to install a Magento store.

I need to be able to install Magento, edit its design and theme and add the SSL certificates but I wish to keep the Cubecart store running until I am finished the Magento store.

When I finish the Magento store I wish to replace the existing Cubecart store.

Should I install it to a sub-folder then when complete move it to the root or should I develop it locally then when complete upload it to the live site?

Answer 1

You mainly have two options:

a) the one you suggested - create a folder wihtin your existing shop (or a symlink to a folder). Inside of that folder create your Magento store and configure everything. Access it using yourdomain.com/magento (if folder name is magento). Also, I would suggest to use .htaccess password protection for that directory, so no one else can see the new store before. Once you are done, edit the document root of your domain or simply rename the folder in which the current store is (e.g. httpdocs) and move the magento folder to be named httpdocs.

b) Create a subdomain for your new store, e.g. magento.yourdomain.com where you serve the new store. Later, if you are ready, simply switch the document root of your domain to that new folder which was used on the subdomain.

Either way, once you do the move, be sure to change the base URL in your core_config_data table!