DNS change before update?

Trouble or wait a couple of days?

[derekwit]

I have to change my DNS so my site will be down for 24 hours. Should I go ahead now or wait a couple of days. My site is completely indexed in Google just don't want to mess anything up this close to the dance?

[DaveN]

wait until after the next deepcrawl.

DaveN

[mcavic]

I'd do it now. I don't think the next deep crawl will start for at least a few days.

But why does your site need to be down for 24 hours? Are you moving to a new server, or changing the IP of the existing server?

[Nick_W]

Here's what to do, from someone that's done it:

• Put your site on the new server
  
• But leave it on the old aswell
  
• When you see Googlebot hitting the new IP
  
• Delete the old, and not untill.

Nick

[CCowboy]

derekwit

Are you running your own server and or DNS?

[mcavic]

And change (or have your ISP change) the Minimum TTL on your domain to 5 minutes. Then wait 24 hours before making the change. That way, the downtime due to DNS changes will only be 5 minutes.

[daamsie]

Hi Derek,

I am right in the middle of a DNS and server swap at the moment and have minimised downtime to only a few hours thanks to some simple code.. Basically I catch all the pages on my old site and redirect them straight to their equivalent on the new server (using IP address, rather than the domain name). I'll take that code down as soon as the transfer is completed though and make the old server work the same as it used to, because I have no idea what effect such a redirect would have on the friendly googlebot. Hope it helps.. I can't guarantee anything, because this is the first time I've done one since paying attention to Google's activities. I'll be taking Nick's advice on how long to leave up my old server files!

[CCowboy]

mcavic

Would'nt he also want to change the "serial number" on the DNS "Start Of Authority" record to a greater number than the current record?

[mcavic]

Sure, the serial number needs to be updated any time there's a change to the DNS zone.