How to move web hosts

more like how not to

[wesg]

I've spent the last 2 days moving my website between hosts. It has been a far rockier experience than I had hoped -- or even planned for -- and I wanted to share some my insights with other webmasters in the hope that they will help at least a few people. It's probably old knowledge to the gurus on the board, but it's always good to know.

1. Plan your attack.
Before I moved hosts, I went through a mental checklist to make sure I had everything. I backed up my MySQL databases and synced my FTP site with my local folders. Everything was ready and I knew what I had to do.

2. Pay with credit card
This one is a little weird, but it basically means that by paying with credit instead of PayPal or similar service, you can know for sure that your account is ready, and you won't have to be anxious about it. Of course, using a credit card WITH PayPal definitely takes care of that.

3. Don't cancel your original hosting until everything else is ready
My old service says it takes 4 - 5 business days to cancel an account. I thought about that and cancelled 3 days before my package needed to be renewed. THe problem was that they were too attentive to my needs, and I was stuck with a 404 error while the DNS record moved its way around the internet. Instead, I should have kept with the account and cancelled it as late as possible.

4. Do the switch while you're in the middle of your hosting package
Find out if your provider will give you a refund up until the end of your current account. That way, you can wait longer before transitioning services. If it takes a few extra days to get everything set up, then you won't be offline.

5. Double check paths and connections
Make sure you have the database info correct, and that images and the like are all where they should be.

Had I known these things earlier, I probably would have changed my plan. As it stands, I had a few hours outage, but the site is back now. Hopefully this will help others in the future.

[g1smd]

Pre-announce the move on the old site a few days before the move takes place, and cut off access to add new content to the old site (like customer comments, replies to blog, whatever) an hour or so before the new site is up and active.

Put an announcement on the new site to say "this is the new site", so that people know they have arrived there. Make all dynamic functionality live and working as soon as possible.

Move the DNS to point to the new site.

Run the old site in "read only" mode for about two weeks after the new site is live. Verify (by looking at the log files) that there are no visitors to the old site before taking it down.