Moving to dedicated hosting

[Stereo Steve]

After much consideration and research we have decided to move our hosting to a Rackspace dedicated server as traffic and orders are increasing rapidly and I have had a few compaints of the site being on a go slow of late. It's expensive but I'm pretty impressed with the service and commitment so far.

So. We have hired a company, recommended by Rackspace to do the migration and keep it as smooth as possible. One thing that did confuse me is that they are telling me that the 'database' is stored on our PC so there is no need to halt ordering during the switch. Is this the case? Where are the orders downloaded from ultimately when I click the down arrow?

I'm just a little worried that we are going to run into problems with orders getting lost when the site dissapears from the current hosting.

Anyone migrated a site and have any tips?

[leehack]

I think Jo gave some good advice on this very recently, well worth having a search for that from what i recall.

[Ginnys Attic]

we recently moved to a new server and what i found was over the migration time (whilst all the IPS's catch up with the server change) we had orders on the old server and new and it did cause a few issues although no orders were lost (well at least non that i know of or have ever heard from the customer about).

Personally i would close the store as it's the only way you can be sure of no mix ups and if you don't close the store you will need to keep changing the network settings using the sites IP address instead of the domain name in the settings to check both servers to see if there are any orders.

Not the end of the world but it is a pain and although migration is much quicker these days some ISP's take up to 48 hours to catch up so the only way to be sure no orders are lost is to close the store in my opinion.

A dedicated server sounds a bit expensive to me, why not go with a VPS (Virtual Private Server) it would be much cheaper gives pretty much all the benefits with guarenteed memory etc and unless you were processing an amazing amount of traffic/orders/files etc would be more than ample for a very busy Actinic site.

We use http://www.webhosting.uk.com and in the year we have been using them we have only had a couple of issues mostly with what permissions are required by Actinic and when they migrated us to new hardware caused all new permission issues but other than that they have been very good and on the whole for the money they are very good, a VPS with them would be much better value for money than a dedicated server in my opinion and they also sell dedicted SSL's very cheap giving you your own https://www.YOURDOMAIN.com if required.

[Stereo Steve]

I looked at all options and talked it over with Rackspace who were were very up-front about the various options. In the end, the extra cost is negligible against the orders we take today and hopefully will lead to the site performing at it's best all the time and a general increase in SERPs ranking and also orders.

When you say you get orders on both hosts, why is this? Is the order database stored on the hosting? My migration guy says it's on the PC running actinic (which doesn't sound right to me).

How would you go about checking for orders on the old database and why would you get orders on the old hosting anyway? Maybe I should shut up shop for 24 hours but that's going to cost a bit.

[Ginnys Attic]

the database is on your PC but the orders are stored online, basically whilst some customers ISP update the nameservers quickly some don't so some will see the old site on the original server and some will see it on the new one therefore orders placed could be one different servers.

when i moved i just changed the ftp settings within the network setup to the IP address instead of the domain so to check the original server i would use something like ftp.205.205.269.98 and for the new server ftp.980.980.969.28

Basically when you move servers you will need to update the name servers for your domain name(s) which in turn will need to update and to propagate around the internet with ISP's etc and whilst this happens some customers will see the new server and some the old and this process can and usually does take up to 48 hours for everything to be updated and everyone see the site at it's new location.

[jont]

How would you go about checking for orders on the old database and why would you get orders on the old hosting anyway? Maybe I should shut up shop for 24 hours but that's going to cost a bit.

You are going to have to either shut shop (could be more than 24 hours) or risk losing orders. You can feasibly change everything and get the new site propagated in around 30 mins but this is a rarity and if you are controlling everything yourself. Real world is often much slower depending on who you are moving from and moving to let alone the time to upload a large site from scratch.

I think you have to be prepared to lose 1 or 2 days of trading for the potential benefits of migrating.

You could mitigate the effect placing a note once you have suspended the old server saying new site due in 24 hours .. thanks for your patience and if you return you will get a free stack of CD's ... etc etc .. hopefully enough of an incentive to come back later.

[pinbrook]

it also depends on your psp - they also have to propagate to your new IP.

it is possible to minimise downtime but it depends on too many variables, such as is the old site on a ded ip, is the new site on a dep ip, do you use psp, how much mopping up you want to do, the list is endless.....

[Darren B]

I like the idea of give aways, me i would shut shop on the old host, upload to the new host using the ip given by rackspace and set this shop live, change all your name servers for the domain(s) to the rackspace ones,

Then as this progates around the web, people will be directed automatically and can shop on your new site, then once you happy the change has completely gone through, change you actinic settings to the domain again and upload.

I have done this to more than one site and it works well, i managed to keep my down time to around 2hrs, this is mainly due to my domain name registrar seems to have this knack of updating the name servers instantly and i am able to pick up on the name servers at the beginning of the change.

And i know it is still current as i did it this a week ago

D

[Stereo Steve]

So I suspend ordering and upload to the old hosting using the IP instead of the ftp and then upload the site again to the new IP? Sounds like a good idea. If a customer finds the site on the old host it will be closed with an apology message and if they find it on the new host it will be working fine.

I guess this would also solve the psp issue as well?

I suppose there is going to be an element of disruption but hopefully it will pay off in the months to come.

[Stereo Steve]

Plus, as you say, I can give a voucher code with the apology message which will allow those who find the old site to get a freebie with their next order.

[Darren B]

No Steve

Right suspend ordering on you existing host and wait a little while to make sure you dont get any orders, someone might have been checking out when you suspended.

Then change you networks settings to the ip address that rack space give you, or they will give you a url that your domain is on until the name has transfered, it might be an ip it might be a weird rack space domain but it will normally be the host name for your ftp details.

once you have entered this into your network settings, turn ordering back on and upload, this will then upload you site to the new servers.

Then change the name servers for your domain to point to the rack space name servers.

when you have done this people will be able to find your shop by either the ip or weird name rackspace give you and as your name propogates across the internet by your domain name.

Then after about 24 hours most of the transfer would have taken place and you can then change the network settings back to you domain name then re upload and everything will be on the new server with your domain name in the url's

hope this helps explain a little better
D

[Stereo Steve]

Gotcha, thanks.