Changing your server location

Moving your server to a different location can cut your ping if you or most of your players are far from the current one. Here is what a move involves and how to start it yourself from the control panel.

3 min read · Updated Sep 24, 2026 · By GuavaHost Team

Moving your server to a different location can cut your ping if you or most of your players are far from where the server currently sits. Here is what actually happens during a move and how to start one yourself.

Ping grows with physical distance, so the closer the location is to your players, the lower the latency. GuavaHost hosts in Dallas (United States), Limburg (Germany), Gravelines (France), Warsaw (Poland) and Sydney (Australia). Dallas is also the closest option for South America.

What a move involves

A move copies your server's files onto a machine in the new location. Because it is a different machine in a different place, your server gets a new IP address and a new port.

What comes with you:

1. Your world, plugins, mods, configs and other files move across to the new location.
2. Your server settings and startup settings come along too.

What changes:

1. You get a new IP and port. Anyone connecting will need the new address, so update it anywhere you've shared it (Discord, server lists, bookmarks). The old address stops working.
2. If you use a custom domain or a subdomain pointing at your server, you'll need to repoint it at the new IP and port.

Be honest with yourself about the trade-off. A location closer to you helps your ping, but if your players are spread out, moving closer to some means moving further from others. Pick the location closest to most of the people playing.

Expect some downtime

Your files have to be copied to the new machine, and how long that takes depends on how big your world is. Your server is offline while the copy runs, so it's worth starting the move at a quiet time.

How to move your server

1. Sign in at customer.guavahost.com, open My servers and click Manage on your server.
2. On the server's Overview, find the Location card and click Change location.
3. The Transfer your server window lists every location with an estimated ping. Your current one is marked Current. Pick the new location and click Continue.
4. Read the summary of what happens, tick the box to confirm you understand that the IP changes for good and the server is unavailable during the transfer, then click Move my server.
5. You will see Your move is queued. The move starts by itself within a few minutes, and nobody has to arrange it with you. Until it starts, your server keeps running on its current address.

While the move runs, the server page shows its progress: Getting it ready, Copying your files and Back online. We email you the new address once the move finishes. If a move fails, your server stays where it is and keeps running on its current address.

A few things stop a move from starting:

• An unpaid invoice. A suspended server cannot be moved. The window offers Pay the invoice; once it is paid you can move it yourself.
• A scheduled cancellation. Contact support if you would like to keep the server and move it.
• The server is busy, for example still installing or restoring a backup. Try again once it has finished.

If the window says Send this to support, the move cannot start automatically just then. Copy the summary under Your request, click Contact support and paste it into your message, and the team will do the move by hand. You can also ask in our Discord at discord.gg/GuavaHost.

Once the move is done, grab the new address from the top of your server page or the Ports & network card on the Overview, and share it with your players.

Troubleshooting

1. Players can't connect after the move: make sure everyone is using the new IP and port, not the old one. Old addresses stop working.
2. Your custom domain still points at the old server: update the DNS record to the new IP and port. DNS changes can take a while to spread.
3. Ping didn't improve as much as you hoped: double-check the new location is actually the closest one to most of your players, not just closest to you.
4. Not sure a move is even the fix: if everyone lags at once regardless of location, that may be server tick lag rather than ping. See our guide on telling server lag from latency.

Still stuck? Jump into our Discord at discord.gg/GuavaHost and the team will help you out.

• region
• location
• latency
• ping
• migration
• transfer

Still need help? Our team is online 24/7 to answer questions.

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