Strategies for transferring a domain name

Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 4:10 pm

I've got a website right now, but I've outgrown my host. On it I am running a RavenNuke site.

Evaders twisted my arm ( Wink

) and now I have this awesome dedicated server to play with, currently without a domain name. My thought was I would spend some time setting it up and getting my feet wet, then transfer my RavenNuke and domain name over to it.

What is a good strategy for transferring the domain name while trying to minimize disruption? Should I setup a simple index.html on the new machine that says "Welcome to the new home of xxx.com", then get the transfer going, keeping the old site running, and then when I notice the DNS update, shut down the old site, transfer the database, and start the new one? Any other things I should be concerned about?

Thanks in advance!

Site Admin Joined: Jun 04, 2004 Posts: 6432

Sounds good to me. I've done this a few times, but usually forget to temporarily shut down the old site, losing a few forum posts and possibly users in the process. Comparing the tables to recover that data isn't fun...

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 6:52 am

I have actually done the reverse. This is what I have done:

1. Get a working DB and all my files over to the new server (and tested).

2. Plan a brief "outage" on my existing domain. When ready for the "cut-over", I set the NukeSentinel site not available message and take my last db dump.

3. I then imported my db dump into the new site, logged in, set the various config changes (if needed - e.g., if there was a path change), and turn NukeSentinel's site setting back ON for the NEW site only.

4. Now, this is where I have done this two different ways. My last move, I just left the old site with it turned off (i.e., NS setting). Eventually, as DNS rolls over, folks are on the new site. The other way I've done it is replace the index.php/index.html or use a rewrite rule, to redirect folks to the new server but by IP address.

The key is keeping only one active db and IMO that should be the new one as DNS can roll fairly quickly in the U.S..... my experience anyways.

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 9:08 am

If it were me I would use a redundant domain for the servers domain or buy one who's name is 'in keeping' with any sites you alreay own/run.
You'll need to register some nameservers (these are free) which your provider can set up for to use for the server if your not quite sure on how to set them up.

For the site you are wanting to host on your new server, go to the control panel for that domain and amend your nameserver list - the first two will be for your current host, you can leave them alone but you should be able to set up at least two more and for those, use the nameservers for your new server.
Leave this for 24 hours to make sure the change has been fully propogated.

What you have just done (to clarify the mechaincs of it) by creating the two new nameserver entries for that domain is;
your site will run perfectly normally to your existing host as the first two nameservers are available and accessible
The second pair will only kick in if their is a failure of the first two - think of them as a secondary pathway

Duplicate your files and DB onto your new server and set up a redirect on the original site to the new sites server IP~accountusername

Go back to your control panel for the domain you are moving, remove the first two (original) nameservers and move your (new) two which are for your new server into the first two slots.

What happens is, as the original nameservers lose propogation, the ones you replaced them with will automatically kick in as they have already propogated.

I have used this method lots of times when I moved customers hosting accounts to a new server with virtually zero downtime and no data loss as the transition is virtually seemless.

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 11:14 am

Wow, I'm gonna have to think about that one Guardian. Smile

My problem is that my original site is on shared hosting, and once the DNS propagates, I don't think I'll have access to my old site. I access it through a Plesk control panel using my hostname. Not knowing exactly when the transition is going to occur is going to be the problem I think. My current host isn't all that helpful.

Thanks for all the advice.

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 6:54 am

Just don't forget the fact that if your site is dynamic (hhhmmm.... nuke?), and things are changing in the db all the time, you really don't want two up and operational during the switch. If you are the sole provider of content and you don't care about last user IP, IP Tracking, statistics, etc., then, yes, you could have both up at the same time. I've done this before too, but I at least modified one of my images on the old site so that I could tell when I was on the new one so that if I wanted to add content again, I knew I was working on the new one....

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 7:38 am

Yes, thats why I suggested 'forcing' users to the new location with a redirect on the old location. Yes you would lose accurate referer/IP tracking for a few hours but there is no reason to actually close a site using this method as all visitor data transactions would be at the new location.
It is only a suggestion though Smile

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 7:53 am

there I go not reading (or is it absorbing) it closely enough.

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 10:01 am

No problem, your point is valid and was worth reiterating Smile

I'm sure there are many ways to do it and probably more elegantly than my example.

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 11:23 am

Well right now I access my "old site" through a Plesk panel at [ Only registered users can see links on this board! Get registered or login! ] But after the DNS propagates, I don't think I can get in to shut it down, right? So I'll have to shut it down before then, but thats a real unknown thing. Confused

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 11:45 am

You are only changing the DNS for the domain name you are moving so you should still be able to access your Plesk panel and even your old website by using the shared hosting providers server IP address.
I'm not sure how Plesk handles this and I'm sure your host will be able to confirm but with cPanel systems using WHM you can for example access the hosting control panel with; [ Only registered users can see links on this board! Get registered or login! ] and you will be prompted for your user/pass

to access your old 'site' you should be able to access it using the shared hosting providers server IP; [ Only registered users can see links on this board! Get registered or login! ] (where 'username' is the account name)
You should be able to test these now in any event.

Provided you can get access using the servers IP rather than a domain name you'll be fine Smile

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 12:07 pm

Guardian2003 wrote:

I'm not sure how Plesk handles this and I'm sure your host will be able to confirm but with cPanel systems using WHM you can for example access the hosting control panel with; [ Only registered users can see links on this board! Get registered or login! ] and you will be prompted for your user/pass

Thanks a ton Guardian, this does indeed work. I feel a little better now. Smile

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 12:58 pm

Glad to help where I can Smile

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 1:23 pm

Good luck Gremmie! May the farce... uh, I mean, force be with you. Laughing

Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 12:14 pm

Well the move went very well. The domain name was transferred sooner than they said it would, and I upgraded to RN2.20.0 along the way.

It sure is nice having access to a shell to run mysql in command line mode to import all that data instead of using bigdump.

Thanks for all the advice.

Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 1:28 pm

Glad your up and running.