mtiwebmaster Posted September 18, 2005 Posted September 18, 2005 I'm the webmaster for a community theater company. I'm looking at moving our website from our current webhost (not happy with there performance), and I'm wondering about some of the issues involved in this process. I'm aware that I will need to modify the DNS entries with our domain name host, and I'm aware that it takes a period of time for the new entries to propagate across the net. I'm assuming that before I make the DNS changes I would be able to upload our files to the your host using the IP address directly. Included in our website is an on-line ticket purchasing system. I'm wondering how to handle transferring the sales database for this application (it's currently implemented just through flat filesystem files, although I'm hoping to move it to MySQL on the new host). I'm assuming that there's some (hopefully short) period of time as the new DNS info is propagating out that I can't be sure which host a user will get when they type in our domain name. Is that correct? I'm guessing that what I will have to do is disable the ticket ordering pages on the old host, transfer the database files to the new host, and then make the DNS changes. Now if a user gets the old host from an old DNS entry they will just get a page telling them the ticket ordering service is temporarily down, and if they get the new host they will be able to go ahead with the order and the data will be recorded on the new host's filesystem. Did I miss anything here? Will this work? How long should I wait for the DNS info to percolate through before I cancel my old hosting account? Also, what's the best way to get all the files transferred from one host to the other? Will I have to download everything to my personal computer, and then upload them back to your host, or do you have some utility that will easily ftp the files straight across from the old host? Thanks in advance for any suggestions you have on this process! Erick Pew webmaster for Music Theatre of Idaho Quote
TCH-Don Posted September 18, 2005 Posted September 18, 2005 Welcome to the forums Erick If your current host has cpanel the techs may be able to transfer your site for you. Other wise you will have to down load it and ftp it to your space here. When you sign up you will get a welcome e-mail with the ip address of your accounts server so you can ftp to the ip with your user name. Sounds like you have a good plan to switch over. One more thing you might think of is to forward your e-mail on your current host to your isp e-mail That way you won't lose any e-mail during the transition. Can't help on the flat file to database. But as they are files they will get transfered when the techs or you copy your files over. If you have any more questions, please ask. Quote
stevevan Posted September 18, 2005 Posted September 18, 2005 Welcome to the forums Erick! A word of advice...make sure you make a backup of your current content...just in case! At any rate, simply open a help desk ticket when you're ready and the tech's will hook you right up! Quote
hooksie Posted September 19, 2005 Posted September 19, 2005 DNS propagation can take a maximum of 72 hours if I remember correctly (just a member here, not official info). However, out of personal experience, the DNS usually is reproagated within a few hours for most places. I know some of the members on my board still experienced going to an old host for about a day after the DNS changed during a switch to TCH, but thats rare. And welcome to total choice, its a good choice Quote
TCH-Thomas Posted September 19, 2005 Posted September 19, 2005 Propagation can take up to 72 hours. If it´s a .com domain its usually very fast nowadays. From a personal experience the other day, I registered a new domain and before I even got my confirmation email I could access this new domain. Quote
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