After much discussion with other bloggers and web site owners, I have decided that the time is right for this post. So many people stay in a relationship with their web hosting company, even when they are unhappy, because they are unsure of the process and afraid of long periods of down time. The truth is, when you do a hosting switch, there doesn’t need to be ANY down time of your site at all.
I have had hosting accounts at a variety of hosting companies over the years and they have all served their purpose well at the time. Now the bulk of my hosting is done at HostGator and Jumpline.com Web Hosting (they have yet to let me down in 8 years!). The following is the recipe I follow whether moving one of my accounts or a client account.
- Back up all of your files from your existing Web hosting server to your hard drive.
- Create a hosting account at your new hosting service.
- Transfer all your web site’s files to the new server. Set up email accounts at this time, too.
- You may need to go to the service you registered your Domain name with at this point and point the name servers to your new service. (Registrars are typically Network Solutions
, GoDaddy
and others) Some hosting services will do this part for you. Your new site should resolve in 15 minutes to 48 hours. By doing things in this order, you will not have any down time. One moment the DNS will be pointing to the old server and the next moment it will point to the new one.
- Test out your site at its new home. Set up all the extra features and let it run for a few days.
- Delete your files at the old hosting account and cancel your hosting with them. Be sure to go onto the remote site and delete your files off their server.
Moving your personal or business web site and/or blog is not as daunting as it sounds. Take your time and follow these guidelines and you will be feeling at home before you know it.
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50 Comments»
Gayla
3. November 2006 | 18:33 hThanks for the tips! I’m getting to like the idea of HostGator more and more.
I have a site that’s due to expire in early December on iPowerweb. I’m likely going to be making the move at that time.
I’d love to be able to save some money by moving all of my sites under one account. *sighs*
I’m such a tightwad.
Char
3. November 2006 | 18:38 hRemember that client I told you about who was resistant to the idea of moving from her Doteasy account? She decided to make the move today when she realized that her host did not offer the BB service she wanted and that HostGator did. I walked her through the sign up process and we were done in less than 5 minutes. All I have to do now is transfer her files to Host Gator and set up PHPbb for her and she is set.
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8. September 2007 | 17:09 h[...] - for whatever reason - please share in the comments what made the process go more easily for you. 6 Easy Steps to Making a Web Hosting Switch [Essential [...]
pablo dias
8. September 2007 | 17:46 hWhen your website uses any kind of insert data in a database (register users, add coments or anything else) it’s better to create a holder page while moving and testing everything on the new host, avoiding forgoten data on your DB. I always do that putting a holder on the old host and, on the new, keep everything working fine, because when changing DNS servers it may take a while replicating the changes to the “world”.
Steven Rushing
8. September 2007 | 17:49 hSomething that very new website owners may not think about is your databases. My very first host switch, i downloaded all my files and ran. I reallly didn’t like my host. =) But without the database my wordpress files were useless! This was 4 years ago now, when I was very new, but DON’T FORGET YOUR DATABASES! =)
Michael
8. September 2007 | 18:25 hProblems arise when people buy domains from the same webhost, because transferring domains is much, much more complex (if even possible) so I would also recommend that you never buy your domain from the same company that hosts your site, even though it seems more convenient.
Dan
8. September 2007 | 18:33 hIf you have access to your machine’s hosts file, do this before changing the DNS servers with your registrar:
Add entries domain name pointing to your new hosting companies IP in your hosts file (Linux, /etc/hosts; Windows, should be %SystemRoot%\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts). Then, when you go to your site in your web browser, you’ll be seeing it from your new site. You may have to restart your browser or even your computer (or just manually clear the DNS cache).
For example, if the new IP address is 1.1.1.1 and your domain is yourdomain.com, add this to your hosts file:
1.1.1.1 yourdomain.com http://www.yourdomain.com
This way you can test before every committing to changing DNS servers. If all looks good THEN change your DNS over.
En Español » 10 pasos para cambiar de hosting
8. September 2007 | 18:48 h[...] suerte, vÃa LifeHacker, encuentro un artÃculo que indica cómo mudar de hosting en 6 pasos muy simples. Creo que se olvidó de un par de pasos importantes (o los resumió demasiado) asà que acá está [...]
cenourinha
8. September 2007 | 19:04 hI use HostGator to, i think it’s a great service.
links for 2007-09-08 at Refugio VirtuaMental de un internauta
8. September 2007 | 19:26 h[...] 6 Easy Steps to Making a Web Hosting Switch (tags: howto web hosting) [...]
michael
8. September 2007 | 19:32 hCheck out a Slicehost VPS. Switched from multiple shared hosting providers to a VPS and the performance has been orders of magnitude better that a shared host. It’s for the technically inclined, but if you get a VPS or dedicated server, it’s trivial to move between hosts.
loren
8. September 2007 | 20:33 hyour list is not perfect. when you sign up for new hosting, you can have the new hosting company provide you with your IP address so you can actually see your files on the web before you change the name servers. You will also need to update your scripts as the name of your database may change depending on some hosts.
also, some hosts (such as for .nr domains) are very picky about name server changes.. it can really be hard when some lousy companies don’t even have an online control panel for you to manage this stuff.
Justo Llecllish
8. September 2007 | 20:39 hIt is more easy to copy from/to WHM (web host manager).
Andrew
8. September 2007 | 21:24 hI would not recommend having your hosting provider register your domain for you in order not to have problems later when moving to a new host.
Char
8. September 2007 | 21:43 hThanks to all of the visitors who have come here today from Lifehacker.I appreciate everyone adding to the conversation and sharing additional tips.
Barry
8. September 2007 | 22:30 hI agree with a couple earlier posts–for database driven sites, the database is the most important part. Here’s a good tip if you know how to configure your databases.
First copy the files to the new host, and then also copy the database to the new host.
Then change the permissions on the new host’s database so that the OLD host has permission to access the database, and then go to the old site and edit the config files to point to the database on the new host instead of localhost.
Now if you edit the DB content (posts, comments, etc.) the changes will all be on the new host, and the database on the old host isn’t needed anymore.
Then whan that all works, switch the DNS to point to the new host….and editing your local hosts file to test the new host first is a good idea.
ResourceBlog » Blog Archive » 6 Easy Steps to Making a Web Hosting Switch
8. September 2007 | 22:54 h[...] This article provides exactly what the title describes. The truth is, when you do a hosting switch, there doesn’t need to be ANY down time of your site at all. 0 Comments posted on “6 Easy Steps to Making a Web Hosting Switch” Post a comment [...]
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9. September 2007 | 00:21 h[...] 6 Easy Steps to Making a Web Hosting Switch (tags: hosting howto switch web webdesign webhost business technology) [...]
vic
9. September 2007 | 02:21 heasier way - if your host is cPanel; just tell your new host to do the transfer for you - they can do it immediately within a couple moments ; all your files + emails and settings will be instantly transfered.
Ram
9. September 2007 | 05:57 hyour post made my day!
i was worried abt the downtime while changing DNS settings for my domains
Technobuzz.net
9. September 2007 | 07:26 hThanks For the Tips. This will really helpul for me, coz very soon am going to move one of mu blog to other host
webhosting
9. September 2007 | 07:35 hOne of the reason I prefer CPanel control Panel over other control panel is because switching between Cpanel host is much eaiser.
WHM has a feature that can helps in downloading the entire site from one server to another and thus making moving host very easy (Hostgator is using Cpanel).
http://www.top10webhosting.com
Gil Megidish
9. September 2007 | 10:56 hI’m an expert at this field
I have moved 5 providers in the past 2 years. The guideline above is good for static websites. I have encountered difficulties not discussed in the post. Among are:
1. While DNS update is propagating, some users see the old server, to which they register and add new content. While others see the new server and add new content to that. Within 48 hours, nobody will be using the old server, but how do you sync the old with the new?
2. Apache/PHP versions matter! PHP of one version returns warning which is an error on the other. Different versions of shutils behave differently. And last but not least, sendmail never survives the move! Remember this!
3. Always make sure your new server can handle at least the same load as the old server. If possible, make an .htaccess to force 301 redirect to the new server (by ip address of course.)
4. Use Amazon S3 for user uploaded media!
5. Another trick I haven’t tried yet, is to set two A record on your DNS, with priority for the old server. Then let it propagate for 48 hours before simply shutting down the old server and removing it from DNS. That way, clients are supposed to try both IPs, so for the first 48 hours, they will always fail on the first IP before moving to the second. Haven’t tried it yet, but time will come to move again
That’s it.
Hope it helps somebody.. :o)
Signing off
Vaibhav
9. September 2007 | 11:55 hI had a similar post some time ago.. This one is specific for wordpress blogs. If anyone is interested, it is at: http://blog.gadodia.net/steps-to-move-your-blog/
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Baz L
10. September 2007 | 01:05 hThese steps work great if you have just HTML content. Things get a bit more complicated when you have MySQL databases involved. This will help:
http://www.webdevelopment2.com/moving-wordpress-to-a-different-domain/
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Email hosting with webhosts?
10. September 2007 | 10:20 hMy current webhost also hosts the emails for my domain. If I transfer the domain to a new host - what do I need to do about my emails?
If I transfer the Naming Servers to the new host - what will happen to the emails?
After Hours
10. September 2007 | 12:50 hEMail is the hardest piece to deal with. There is no easy way to transfer all the mail from all the accounts or easily recreate the multitude of accounts/aliases/etc.
I usually create a GMail account, transfer all the mail to it, recreate all those mailboxes, then transfer it all back.
Joe
10. September 2007 | 13:26 hYou forgot two important steps!
7. Wait three days (for full DNS propagation), then cancel your hosting account with the old provider. Legally, in my state at least, providers are allowed to charge you for monthly hosting fees unless you comply with their cancellation policy.
8. Leave feedback with a Manager of the outgoing hosting company, about why they are losing your business. If it’s a pricing issue, many companies will cut you a fabulous deal, just to keep your business!
Dan
10. September 2007 | 14:50 hBest way to handle the email situation is to sign up for Google Apps (http://google.com/a/). It does require that your DNS records be updated to point email to Google, but most hosting providers *should* allow for that.
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dotservant.com website hosting
10. January 2008 | 05:04 hGood info and straight forward steps for migrating from one web host to another. Just one extra point to be added for dynamically updated sites like forums, blogs etc. During the DNS change, visitors are being directed to either the old web host or new web host depending on their ISP update schedule, in order to maintain only new data is only captured in new web hosting account, you should turn off the site at old web host to ensure no new data is being captured there.
hitsdir
23. January 2008 | 15:18 hlooks easy with those 6 steps.
but its really hard when we are moving some script/database. lol
Daniel
26. May 2008 | 03:31 hEven if you arent switching hosts, it is a good idea to backup your files continuously even if your host says they backup server data automatically. Sometimes these backups can fail or you might delete some files by accident(If they are using RAID backup you are out of luck)
Design
27. May 2008 | 17:10 hThis is the first time I have to change my hosting service, and this little tutorial really came in handy, thanks!
Cole
23. June 2008 | 18:15 hOne thing I would add, especially if you work with a lot of scripts, is that you may need to change the directory root, php locations etc. So keep that in mind when switching and it’ll save some hassle.
TechnoDiary.com
28. June 2008 | 12:55 hLast time when I switched the host my site had to be down for like 9 hours. It was some DNS update issue with hostgator.
~Sahil
Bruno Auger
16. July 2008 | 20:04 hThis article was very informtive. I thought it provided a lot of info that even the average user could even move their stuff to a new host.