Are all following steps really needed?

Moving from server A to server B

[henry0]

I am questioning myself on the purpose of taking the following steps:
A)Do a .htaccess with a perm redir pointing to each pages
B)Add a 404
C)Plus in most old pages add a meta refresh

Will the following scenario not work?
I can afford keeping the old server alive till being sure that my DN has moved fine and that it points really to the new server.
In that case do I really need to take more actions?

Funny that in many years of web dev I never had a call for moving a DN!
Either added a new site somewhere
Or simply a client did not need it any longer and I del the actual site.

[physics]

I don't think you need to do a meta-refresh _and_ a 301. If there's a 301 then no one will ever see the meta-refresh. Same with the 404, not necessary if you have a 301.

[henry0]

Thanks physics
Happy Thanksgiving to all the WebmasterWorld bunch of great fellow "head scratchers" and "front-head-bangers"!

[physics]

You're welcome. I just realized that I should have asked for clarification. Are you moving
example.com on server A
to
example.com on server B
and all of the pages will be exactly the same?

[henry0]

Yes this will be purely moving A from server_1 to server_2 then server_1 will no longer be used
it goes from a shared host to another host on a dedicated server.
I am moving all files as is but indeed my DB_conn scripts, however they are not visible for they are located below root

[jonrichd]

If you are just moving the domain from server_1 to server_2, then you shouldn't need either 301 redirects or refreshes or 404s.

Once you have all your files on the new server, you'll go ahead and change the DNS to point to the new one. Once that happens, there will be a delay, where some folks will go to the old server, and others will go to the new one, depending on if they have stored the old IP address or the new one. Typically in about 24-48 hours, you start to see all the traffic just on the new one.

Throughout all of this the domain name stays the same, hence no need for redirects or refreshes, since you would just be redirecting to your same domain name (and setting up an endless loop).

HTH

[henry0]

Thanks, now the chain of events is clear in my mind.

as I did think

it's a "natural process" and it needs no added steps.