Ok, I am about ready to officially start transferring some users from my old host.
This is the first time I have ever had to move from a host so I am looking for some guidance on how to minimize down time for non-database driven sites, email, and database driven sites (DNN).
Static Sites - I’m not worried about static sites since the content isn’t changing and it doesn’t matter that some folks may be hitting the old site and some may hit the new site.
Dynamic database Driven Sites - Not sure what should be done here. Should I have a redirect from the old site to the new sites IP or alias address? I obviously don’t want someone editing content, this is a DNN site, and have it post at the old site only have to redo it again at the new site. Or simply have guests come to the site and maybe post feedback or something that stays at the old site and when everything propogates we don’t see it at the new site.
Email - This is probably the trickiest one in my mind because mail could go to either location depending on the propagation. Should I be altering the MX records at the old host to point to the new host entries?
When I transfered all of my accounts over, I set up a new service domain and then changed the name servers on each domain individually once the files and databases had been migrated.
On a heavily attended forum or feedback blog, this could prove problematic since the dns of isps around the world don’t all change at once.
The best option would be to go ahead and do the transfer and then synchronise the databases after 24 hours - this should result in a minimal disruption.
As far as email goes, I simply instruct folks to check their accounts using webmail at the url http://mail.servicedomain.com where servicedomain.com is your new service domain (obviously) until propagation is complete. After propagation, any mails sent to the new server will be downloaded. They can them check mail.oldservicedomain.com to see if anything ended up on the old server.
I realize that these solutions are labor-intensive, but as long as you spell things out in advance so that there are no surprises, your customers should actually appreciate the lengths you are going to to preserve their data/messages.
Good luck on the migration, mine took about 2 months to finish with the help of 2 employees hired for the purpose. You may also want to use Jodohost’s services to help you with this. Had I known that this service was available when I started, I sure would have used it!
I did pretty much the same thing that Hafa did. I used another domain for my service domain here and gradually moved the accounts over one account/domain at a time. I provided my customers with a link to the old webmail server so they could get any emails they missed during the transfer.
Just make sure that any scripts that connect to MySQL/MSSQL are updated to use the DB at Jodo and not your old host.
I just changed the IP of my old DNS last night, to point to Jodo so now all of my accounts are happily running at Jodo. What a relief.
[QUOTE=hafa]
When I transfered all of my accounts over, I set up a new service domain and then changed the name servers on each domain individually once the files and databases had been migrated.
On a heavily attended forum or feedback blog, this could prove problematic since the dns of isps around the world don’t all change at once.
The best option would be to go ahead and do the transfer and then synchronise the databases after 24 hours - this should result in a minimal disruption.
As far as email goes, I simply instruct folks to check their accounts using webmail at the url http://mail.servicedomain.com where servicedomain.com is your new service domain (obviously) until propagation is complete. After propagation, any mails sent to the new server will be downloaded. They can them check mail.oldservicedomain.com to see if anything ended up on the old server.
I realize that these solutions are labor-intensive, but as long as you spell things out in advance so that there are no surprises, your customers should actually appreciate the lengths you are going to to preserve their data/messages.
Good luck on the migration, mine took about 2 months to finish with the help of 2 employees hired for the purpose. You may also want to use Jodohost’s services to help you with this. Had I known that this service was available when I started, I sure would have used it!
[/QUOTE]
Just got a chance to get back to this. Regarding email I know I can do what is suggested above, but couldn’t I remove the mail service at the old host (after downloading all mail), add custom MX records pointing to the new mail server (the same email addresses exist there) and let her rip? Or would there be places caching the OLD MX records and cause problems?
[QUOTE=gsaunders]
Just got a chance to get back to this. Regarding email I know I can do what is suggested above, but couldn’t I remove the mail service at the old host (after downloading all mail), add custom MX records pointing to the new mail server (the same email addresses exist there) and let her rip? Or would there be places caching the OLD MX records and cause problems?
Thanks
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You could change the MX record, but AFAIK, it would still need to propagate so you may end up with a few mails on the old server. As you noted, some ISPs may cache as well. Using the web mail feature on the old server is a good way to ensure that clients don’t lose any mail.
[QUOTE=hafa]
You could change the MX record, but AFAIK, it would still need to propagate so you may end up with a few mails on the old server. As you noted, some ISPs may cache as well. Using the web mail feature on the old server is a good way to ensure that clients don’t lose any mail.
[/QUOTE]
I guess I will probably do the following dealing with mail:
Create the domain and mail accounts on the new host.
Make the changes at the registrar.
Leave their POP3 and SMTP settings alone and it will continue checking for mail wherever DNS takes them until propogation takes place. At some point it will eventually check at new server.
After propogation has completed, there still may be a lot of mail that showed up at the old host during the transition and in that case I can temporarily add an account to Outlook that will pull down that mail via the mailx.oldservicedomain.com.
Once they have that mail into outlook we can kill it and the domain from the old host.
Another option requires a little more work, but they should NOT miss a single email and they should all arrive in Outlook in a timely fashion. And that is:
Alter the existing Outlook email settings so that it checks the mail at mailx.servicedomain.com (old) and add a new email account that checks the mail at mailx.servicedomain.net (new). If I do this before changing name services they should be able to check mail in both places all the way through propogation.
When propogation has completed I would then simply delete the old email account settings and update the new one to point to mail.theirdomain.com.
I only have 6 computers in this example and it may be worth it to them… although I don’t like the thoughts of making all those changes.
They may simply say they will wait on propogation, but I am trying to cover all the bases for anyone I move… those that don’t get much mail to those that get a tremendous amount.
The second option is a good one, provided the client is willing to make the requisite changes. Good luck on the transfers; here’s wishing you a speedy propagation! :]
