moving to a new host

[fleetwood]

I'm looking for a thread I seem to remember, which gave a step-by-step guide on how to move my site to a new host.

I have searched, but can't seem to find it.

Could someone either point me in the right direction, or run through the steps and precautions again.

I already have a new account up and running with the new host, and remember the order of events running something like:

1) Take Actinic out of action (ie cease ordering) on the old site.

2) Request that my old domain name is moved to my new host (i've moved domain names, without sites attached before, so understand this bit).

3) Wait for the changeover to take place 1-2 days.

4) What do I need to change in the Network settings, other than the mail server name , and the SSL URL in Actinic to reflect the new hosts details (do I leave all the other network settings unchanged?).

5) From Actinic, Update the site. Will this do everything to mirror what was on my old site, or do I need to physically copy files from old to new sites?

Is there anything that WON'T automatically upload with a site update?

I have put this move off for well over a year, and am sh*tting my pants at the prospect. I'm sure its easey peasey, but the thought of moving, and then finding it dosen't work, fills me with fear.

Someone calm my nerves, perleez

[completerookie]

most hosts have a temporary url available to you.
this allows you to see what the NEW hostting will look like BEFORE you go live.
you will need

• use FTP and take a backup of the OLD host - just in case
• save the current network settings
• change the network settings to the temporary url of the new site.
• save these settings so you can re-load them again
• suspend ordering
• upload all the files to the NEW site via the temporary url (no one can see the files yet, don't worry)
• change the network settings back to the OLD host
• suspend the ordering and upload those files to the OLD host
• change the name servers to the NEW host and wait for a couple of days
• change the network settings to the NEW host

the reason you need to do this "upload to the new host early" is you don't know when people in various parts of the world are going to see the new host (ie when their name servers kick in)
on day 1, some of the people will see the OLD host, some the NEW host. over the 48hr period, people will slowly migrate to the new host.
more importantly, you don't know when the search robots start to see the new site, and you need everything in place BEFORE you disable the old site.

Its up to you when you start enabling the new host.
Personally, I put just a small tell-tale indicator on the home page saying "served from the new host"
when you start clicking on the home-page, you will eventually (when your name servers have kicked in) see the tell -tale maker - from then on, you know YOUR name server has kicked in and you need to adjust the Network settings PERMANANTLY to the FULL NEW HOST's settings and un-suspend the web site. and start watching for orders

its a process that CAN take up to 48 hrs, but people will start placing orders after a few hours

the bottom line is, once YOU see the changes to the name-servers, start re-enabling the site.

one other thing.
you might want to consider changing the default message of "catalog suspended" - it can be construed as "this particular product is suspended fromt he catalog, but you can carry on ordering other products if you want"

if you want to play belt-and-braces, and you have multi-site software, create a new site and do a test upload to the temporary URL

if you canleave the old web site available for a while , even better. (it just catches out the really really slow nameservers)

watch for other posts, but it ain't as bad as you might think.

one other point - backup, backup, backup

[fergusw]

Good post by Kevin there - very thorough.

One thing I would add to the mix...... is it is possible to move hosts and/or servers without having to suspend ordering.
It mainly hinges on changing the order number sequence on the new hosting area and then being able to change your computer's hosts file and Actinic network settings to allow you to download orders from either your old host or your new host.

e.g.
Your current order sequence is *****00001478.ord on *old* host.
Say you take on average 10 orders a day.

As per earlier post you can upload your site to new host while old site still runs live. Once uploaded change order sequence from 1479 to something that will be noticable e.g. 1600
i.e. an order placed on the new site will start with *****00001600.ord and increment upwards from there.
This means that during the 48/72 hour window when your nameservers are updating you *could* be taking orders on both sites.
All you have to do is change back to old site network settings, change your hosts file to point your computer to go to old site IP for www and ftp, and simply download any orders placed on old site.
These orders would come in as ****00001479.ord and so on....

Clear way to identify orders from each site AND removes the chance or an order with same number being downloaded from both sites (main reason for suspending orders I would imagine)


One further thing, Kevin mentioned a tell-tale marker to let you clearly see when your DNS resolves to the new host area.
A simple trick we use is to add "..." to the end of the page title or other page element on the home page. Unobtrusive, yet easy to spot if you are looking for it.

Other than than, your customers should never even notice a change or difference.

[completerookie]

Fergus,

I've never used that method but understand the theory.
How does Actinic handle "download orders" - does that get messy? with two network settings that is? and how do you decide its time to call it a day on the old url?

I also like the idea of "..." on the end of the title.

[fergusw]

Kevin,
With changing the order sequence all downloaded orders are easily identified and kept separate with no chance of duplication (as long as the sequence gap is large enough).
The only "messy" part would be changing network settings and host file details to change which server you download from.
[NB: if new host has same settings and ftp details as old host then there should be no need to change settings]

You can "call it a day" after 48/72 hours or whenever you feel confident that the internet nameservers have updated.
NB If your "old" site is set up for email CC notification to you then you may still get email notices if an order is placed.
In our experience 24 hours usually suffices - we check, via FTP, the old server over the next 72 hours to see if there are any .ord files. If any are found we simple copy/paste them across to new host area.

It's a little fiddly, but it means the shop stays trading over the 48 hr period, hence - no lost sales!
Hope this answers your questions.

[completerookie]

we check, via FTP, the old server over the next 72 hours to see if there are any .ord files. If any are found we simple copy/paste them across to new host area.

thats the trick I was looking for

[fergusw]

Note: It's preferrable to let Actinic do the downloading instead of this copy/paste method. For the copy/paste method to work the sites MUST be from the same snapshot. This ensures the encryption key is the same and hence that the .ord file can be correctly decrypted.

[fleetwood]

Thanks guys for the comprehensive answers - just what I was looking for.
This really should be made a sticky, or added to a solutions list.

A couple of questions.

1) Pre-switchover, I upload to the new host, and assume that I keep my domain name in Network settings, at the old name. Does this not create any problems with the upload, as obviously the DNS is still pointing at the old host?
I realise the links will resolve to the old site, but Actinic or the host won't throw a wobbly because I'm uploading mysite.co.uk to host2, yet the DNS isn't with host2 yet?

2) Once I switch the DNS to the new host, is there any reason why host1 would wipe my old webspace, or email account, if I am still paying them, as I want the old site and email to remain, until the new settings have fully propogated.
Is it normal for these to remain untouched if I am still paying the bills, or do I need to tell them?
Is there anything else I need to do, over above keeping both old and new accounts open in the short term, to make sure all email reaches me (the old site is set up so that it forwards emails to another email box at BT ie totally independant of the website)?

3) Apart from webstats, what else do I need to backup from the old site?
I had ssumed that everything else I need to upload to the new host is contained on my local PC (which is backed up). Why do I need to ftp/back up the old site directly from the old host server?

Sorry for all the questions - just being cautious!

[fergusw]

Martin,

1) Your hosts file (C:\Windows\System 32\drivers\etc\) can be amended to make you computer route to any IP you desire for ftp and.or www addresses.
i.e. you can view, test and upload to the new server whilst the rest of the world still sees the old one, and visa versa for retrieving old orders after DNS change
2) Check with your host. Some do/some dont. Some see the change of nameservers away from them as trigger to delete all hosted services.
3) We always backup the entire contents of the old hosting area (unless data size is too unwieldy, in which case just images and web pages are saved) and store it somewhere - just in case.
Web stats, useage reports, email accounts, .htaccess and robots files, fav.ico files etc can all be backed up.

[fleetwood]

Thanks Fergus.

The hosts file you mention - is that something I need to mess with, or am I right in thinking that that is looked after by what I type into Network Settings, and it updates when I upload?

[fergusw]

Check out the Wikipedia link I embedded in my earlier link.

Normally you should never have to "mess" with your hosts file.
Under normal circumstances when you type
www.megacitycomics.co.uk into your browser or ftp with ftp.megaci........etc your computer will look out onto the internet, find it's nearest name server and get the IP address to go to (in this case 195.8.66.1).

Entering
www.megacitycomics.co.uk xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
ftp.megacitycomics.co.uk xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

into your hosts file (where xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the NEW server IP address) will mean that your PC will no longer look onto the internet to get the IP from the nameservers. It simply takes it directly from the hosts file. This means you can make your computer "resolve" to the new IP address while the rest of the internet continues to resolve to the old IP.

[completerookie]

if you really want to "mess around" with the hosts file, then pop over to hostsman where you can do everything "safely"
I use this utility religiously to divert any "dodgy web sites" to my computer. Then when I try to got to dodgyWebSite, it harmlessly looks on my own computer for any files, of course it doesn't find anythin.

it can be set to self update with the latest "dodgyWebSites" as they are found. Its a great utility.

Personally, I'm hapy to re-direct dodgyWebSites, but I would never play around with my own domains

[fleetwood]

Thanks once again to both of you.