How to keep links if you switch to using a CMS

[Makaveli2007]

If you have an existing site and want to start using a CMS, obviously youll lose your link authority if the CMS starts using different URLs.

Say..just in case..if somebody made the mistake and this happened (hasnt happened, yet ;)), could one simply rename ones pages, again and thus get the links back? I assume unless one waited too long (and the webmasters who link out would realize that those links are broken and remove them), there'd be no problem with changing the site's page names back to the old ones, right?....or wrong?:-)

Are there CMS that allow you to prevent this, in the first place - by choosing page names yourself - or does the nature of a CMS prevent this as it generates page names automatically?

thanks!

[ashanka]

Check if your CMS has the option to have customized URLs.

If they do, the documentation must provide step by step guide to make those.