Moving website issue

How does Google find old files on shared IP?

[dan_popescu]

Hi.
I just moved a website from one shared IP to a new shared IP. According to many people here I should leave the files on the old server for about a month or so for bots to visit when they're "confused". My questions are:

1) How do bots find the old files if they're on a shared IP (is it by folder name)?

2) My folder name on the old server is www.domain.com; when I try to type in www.domain.com/oldIP I obviously get an error. So are the bots gonna be able to find the old files then? I checked my logs and I haven't had any traffic to the old server after the transfer was complete. Should I be worried?

Thanks.
Dan

[sonjay]

I've heard that advice, too, and have followed it when moving sites from one server to another, but I never heard anything about confused bots.

DNS propagation can take a while (usually 24-48 hours, but sometimes longer) so for some time after you change your DNS, people who type in your domain name will get your old domain rather than your new one.

A weeks should be more than sufficient for DNS propagation, IMO, but leaving the site on the old server for a month or so gives you plenty of time to discover any missing files on the new site, any malfunctioning scripts or server-side stuff, or other problems. If everything is still up and running on the old server, you have options, and you can retrieve stuff from the old server as needed.

Plus it gives you a chance to make sure your e-mail MX record changes are working and keeps you from losing any e-mail during the transition.

For the cost of an extra month on the old server, you buy a lot of peace of mind.

[dan_popescu]

Thanks Sonja.