Moving Your Web Site to a New Web Host

By James Betchley

Switching Web Hosts

There are many reasons that may make you decide to switch to a new web host, from poor customer support or unreliable servers to that of needing additional features not supported by your current host.

The initial decision to swap may seem like a huge step and you can be forgiven for having a little trepidation, but if you follow the advice here you should find the transition to be so smooth that your customers/visitors will not even be aware you have switched.

Before you switch, ensure that the new host you have chosen can fulfil all the roles you expect of it, that your business has room to grow and the customer support, control panel and other features are to your liking once this has been established you should take out the new contract - note do not cancel your old contract yet, you should ensure that you have everything set up and running on your new server before you cancel your old contract. That way all you need to do is change your DNS and your site is up and running as soon as your domain is re-pointed.

Most web hosts will provide a means by which you can access your server before changing the DNS, you should be able to upload your site via ftp, access the control panel and use it to set up your site and email in preparation for activation.

Once all this has been achieved you are ready to re-point your domain to your new DNS, to do this you need to get the address of your new DNS there are generally two which should look like this:

N1.NEWHOST.COM

N2.NEWHOST.COM

It should be noted that it may take up to 72hrs before the whole switch is complete, as even if the Domain Name Server updates immediately (which is not usually the case) it takes time for the routers around the internet to update their DNS databases.

One your site is up and running and you are happy with it, you can cancel your old subscription.

This process if adhered to should result in a smooth swap with little or no down time as the routers will be sending your domain to either server and both of which have your web site on them.

Reviewed on 23 Sept 2008 by James Betchley, Administrator of Which Domain Host a great resource for web hosting guidance.