How do I migrate my site without doing a direct DB export and site upload?
What you should have done is remove sites/all/default/settings.php; 
Now copy and rename the: sites/all/default/default.settings.php => sites/all/default/settings.php

Phase 2 
Migrate the database to the production server
Phase 3 
Copy the drupal directory from your dev to production server
Phase 4
On the production server hit the following Your_Domain_Name.com/install.php
follow the install instructions and set the database settings and you will be redirected to your site with config.
Phase 5
run cron to make sure eveything is running ok and update if necessary