How to change web hosts

Changing web hosts is something that almost every website owner will need to do at one time or another. This can have a negative effect on your site if it is not done properly and in the correct sequence. If you are looking to change web hosts, this article is for you.

First, keep your current hosting account paid and up to date until the site is fully functioning on the new web host.

Next, purchase your new hosting account. If you are unsure of where to go, have a look at our review of web hosting companies. Now you are paying for two hosting accounts, the old one and the new one, you have done nothing to your website yet.

Next, determine the IP address of your website on the old host. You can use our DNS lookup tool on the right, just enter your url and click "Go". Write this IP address down and try to access your website with it. If you have a dedicated IP address, this should be easy, just enter the IP into your browser window, hit enter and your site should come up. If you are on a shared IP, it will most likely work if you enter your IP address followed by a forward slash / followed by a tilde ~ followed by your hosting account user name. An example would be http://255.255.255.255/~username/

Now that you've verified that you will have access to your old website and files via the IP address (it should also work in your control panel and via FTP, just replace the domain name with the IP address), you can proceed.

Next, login to your old site via FTP and transfer EVERY FILE to your local computer. Check that all the files came through by opening random files on your local system to verify that they were properly transferred and appear to be okay. Now, login to your hosting account's control panel and download a full backup of all your databases (if any). If you don't know how to download a database backup, contact your hosting company

Now that you have a full backup of your website and all data, it's time to get the new site going. Note that if there is traffic to your site after you download a backup and the database is altered/added to during this time, this new data will be lost during the transition. One alternative is to put up a maintenance notice on your site to not allow access while you are changing hosts. The other option is to grab a fresh database backup via the IP address access to the old site after the new site is up. Of course, then you risk deleting data on the new site that was added after the transition. All of this isn't an issue if you do not have a high traffic website. If your site is high traffic, and you choose not to put up a "website maintenance" notice, the data added during the transition period will need to be restored to the new database. An additional option is to write a small script that dumps all of the database queries to a log file that will keep all the data up until the last moment that the actual transition from the old host to the new host takes place. If you need a custom script such as this, we can help.

Next, upload the website files to the new host and import the databases. Check that the site is working properly via the IP address that your web host provides you with. If you don't know what it is, contact your webhost to find out. Some webhosts don't allow a website to be setup unless the name servers of the domain point to it. In this case, the next step will have to be done before this one and you'll need to do this one immediately after; you should have a few hours while the transfer is taking place.

Now that you have verified that the site is working correctly via the IP of the new host, it's time to change your DNS name server information. To do this, you'll need to know who your registrar is. To find out who your registrar is, do a whois lookup on the domain name and you should be able find the registrar's name in the info displayed. If you still don't know, contact your webhost. Some domains are "locked". In this case, you may have to contact your webhost to get them to unlock the domain name and also ask them how you can edit your registrar information. If you don't know this beforehand, then assemble all of this information before you do the first step as it may take a few days to get these things accomplished. Once you have gained access to your information stored with the registrar and your new site is up and ready to go, change the DNS name servers to the ones given to you by the new host (typically something like NS1.NEWHOST.COM, NS2.NEWHOST.COM). When this is done, wait anywhere from about 1 to 12 hours for the site to start working on the new host. If all is done properly, this transition should be seamless. We suggest waiting an additional 8-12 hours after the site first starts working with the new host because it will sometimes fluctuate between hosts for a small period of time.

To test if you are looking at the new host or the old host, put up 1 page at the old host, call it something like test.html with the text "old host" (do this before the DNS name servers info is changed). Upload the same-name file (test.html) to the new host with the text "new host". Refreshing this page will indicate which host you are visiting, e.g. set your browser to http://www.yourname.com/test.html

That's it! Hope all your web hosting transitions go well! Wait a few days to make sure everything is okay at the new host and all your data and files transferred properly and are up to date, then cancel your hosting with the old host.

If you are interested in having a professional perform these services for you, contact us today!

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