Making the Move to a New Web Host
A Web Hosting Article Contributed by Frances Rhea
How to Move to Your New Web Host
At least once in the life of your web site you will have to change your web host. It happens to everyone. Either you outgrow your web host, you need a new feature, or they just suck! After days (not hours) of tedious searching, you find what you hope with be the perfect company. To ensure a smooth transition to the new server, these five steps will make the transfer go flawlessly.
Set up the New Web Host Account and Upload
When you set up your account at the new host, tell them that you do not want them to transfer your domain name until you give them permission.
After you are armed with a login name and password for your new account, you can log in to an IP address (which will be a number), rather than your domain name.
Duplicate your current directory structure and upload everything but your CGI/PERL scripts. Determine where PERL is located on the new server and the home directory for your site. If different than what you had (it probably will be), you will need to edit the scripts to reflect the changes before uploading them.
Test a Few Pages
Make sure the upload went well and that everything is working. Test a few key pages. Manually type in a few URLs such as http://207.209.55.6/faq.html.
If you used relative rather than absolute paths for your URL linking, all of your pages should load correctly. (i.e. Relative URL: contact.html; Absolute URL: http://site.com/contact.html)
Transfer Your Domain Name to Your New Web Host
If everything is on the new server is working properly, email your old web host and tell them to transfer your domain name. You should receive an email from your registrar within 24 hours asking for confirmation. Indicate yes on the return email. When the registrar receives your response the transfer will be complete.
You should see your site within 5 days but it can take up to two weeks for the DNS servers around the world to be updated. Maintain the two web hosts for your site until after your DNS server has been updated.
When you type in your domain name and see your web site you will know that your ISPs DNS servers has been updated.
During the waiting period, you'll have two email accounts to check (one at each web host). Use the IP addresses of your site for both the old and new server as the POP server in your e-mail program rather than the domain name.
Now Cancel Your Previous Web Host
After about a week you can cancel the account with the previous web host. When the email stops working at the account on your old server, the time is right to cancel. If everything has gone as it should, now is the time to give yourself a day off for doing a good job!
