Transferring hosting accounts between control panels

host1plus · 04-01-2009, 04:55 PM

I just want to provide what it takes to change hosting company or moving from one to another.
Here is 10 steps how you can do it.
Please correct me if I forgot something or I am totally wrong (wing-wong)

1. Identify a web hosting company that provides the features and services most suitable for you.
2. Order an appropriate hosting package from the supplier.
3. Use the Control Panel facilities to manage your email boxes and such like.
4. Begin the transfer of your domain or change the domain records and change email settings if required (your new web hosting supplier

should provide guidance and support to make this as simple as possible).
5. Copy all your files from your previous web hosting service.
6. Upload the files to your new hosted web space.
7. Transfer any databases required for your website.
8. Check that all files have been copied and uploaded successfully.
9. Test functionality and content related to any databases.
10. If you have not done so already, cancel your previous hosting service.

By the way I think that the most biggest problem is to know how to get moving from one to another hosting that’s why people always thinks that

they will stick to one hosting company and forget all major problems with that company (downtimes, long servers maintenance and etc.)…

I am trying to analyze cPanel, DirectAdmin and Plesk and will provide all (as much as I can) information regarding how to transfer your website.
I would be glad if you would share some information with me on this forum. Really would be awesome…

Anyway I think it would be great idea to have all information together collected.

Rowsdower! · 04-01-2009, 06:36 PM

I suppose this would go along with testing the functionality, but you also want to check to make sure the DNS points to the page at the new host before you cut off your old site and lose traffic.

If there is a DNS problem you could do a PHP redirect to the new host IP and still display the correct URL until the problem is fixed, but I've heard of people having big issues with DNS during a switch.

host1plus · 04-02-2009, 02:10 PM

Yeah about DNS I already changed that information in blog.host1plus.com

But maybe you can tell me, you remember about that big issues with DNS during a switch. ???

Rowsdower! · 04-02-2009, 02:35 PM

I've never experienced it myself as I'm only a hobbyist (I've never had my own domain). I know that this forum was running off of it's IP address for a time while it switched servers and I have read (who knows where) online about people having trouble with DNS servers being updated in a hosting switch. Unfortunately this is the extent of my "2 cents" on the issue. Maybe a more experienced webmaster could confirm or deny the validity of this concern in the big picture?

By the way, I bumped into this quote online here:

Quote:

3. Update Your DNS Records (Domain Name Holders Only)
If you have your own domain name, and you're shifting it with your website, update your DNS records with your registrar only when you're satisfied that your new site works as intended.

If you have a new domain name (and you did not have one previously), simply point the domain name to the new host. Do NOT point the domain to your old host first for fun. This will cause additional complications as well as delays in your domain name propagation. Propagation seems to be faster when you're pointing a brand new domain than when you're switching a domain between IP addresses.

Although the registrars tell you that the update should be completed within 48 hours or so, in practice it actually takes about a week for all the name servers around the world to catch up with the new location of your domain. In that interim, only some parts of the world will be able access your domain at your new host; the rest will continue to access the old site. Note that even if you see the new site in your browser, it is not necessarily true that others will see the new site. This is normal - do not worry.

Do not:

i. Do not delete the old site during this interim. This will help you avoid losing visitors. Just maintain two copies of your site. Endure the inconvenience for this period - it's only a short term hassle.

ii. At this point in time, do not put up a page on your old site redirecting people to your new domain. It may seem like a good idea, but it isn't. It was one of the silly things I did in one of my moves and I really regretted it.

Why? While you may be able to follow your redirection page to your new host, it merely means that your ISP has updated their name servers so that your domain points to the new host. People who use ISPs elsewhere in the world may not be in the same situation. Some ISPs are very slow to update their name servers. When your visitors using those ISPs click on your redirection, they'll be redirected back to your old site again (since the domain is still pointing there for them). It'll be like an infinite loop - they'll keep going back to the same page redirecting them elsewhere.

I learned about this because I accessed the Internet using different ISPs. I was able to reach my new host with one ISP, but was trapped in an infinite loop with the other.

In general, if you're moving domains, you will not need to put a redirection page. Period

Part of this confirms the DNS lag time (and keeping your old page running for about a week to cover your bases) and part of this refutes my earlier idea about redirecting traffic to the new site. So, I suppose I was only half-right but this refers to a redirect by URL, not IP. Maybe I was all-right after all?