How do I xfer existing site from Win to UNIX?

W

windsurfer

Perch
I have a customer site which I created on a Windows server. It turns out that I should have used a UNIX platform. What is the best procedure for making this transfer?

Also, I noticed that the nameservers are the same for both Win and UNIX accounts. I assume this is normal...
 
The nameservers are the same but you will have to FTP download and FTP uplaod toa unix account, there is no way to move it in a automated fashion.
 
If I do this there will be two sites with the same nameserver. Do I then just delete the Windows account from my control panel?
I just wanted to avoid an unresolvable DNS entry, and thus possible havoc and downtime.
 
There will be some downtime with this but if you schedule it, it can be limited in time, probably less than an hour overall.
 
I was about to ask the same question but going from Unix to Windows because of the FrontPage issues. I assume the procedure is the same.

My client has four domains under one account. Just so that I don't have to delete everything at once, my plan is to create a new Windows account with a slightly different name and then one by one, delete a domain and then as quickly as possible recreate it on the new account, create the email addresses and republish the sites. When its done I'll delete the Unix account.

Is there a better way to do it? Are there things I should be aware of? I'm mostly concerned about mail. Some downtime for the websites is not a big deal.

Thanks for any advice
Ross
 
Yes, the way you explained is correct and it will minimize downtime. you may do it on weekend. You should use outlook to download mails at your local system as you will create the new mail accounts in the new user account.
 
Thanks Prakash.

What will really happen with mail? This guy only has some forwards, no mailboxes. Since I'm deleting and recreating the domain on another account, I guess the MX record will change. I think the TTL is one day. After I've made the change, which I can do in minutes, what happens to the messages that will inevitably be sent to the old MX for a day or so? Will that server know to pass them on to the new server or will the sender get a "not our domain" type bounce or will (hopefully not) messages be lost?

Ross
 
Yes, they use ns3/4. I'm no expert with dig but when I run dig from another machine (not at JodoHost) I get this (names changed). Doesn't the 86400 mean one day or am I reading it wrong?

dig @ns3.m****here.biz clientdomain.co.nz mx

; <<>> DiG 9.2.3 <<>> @ns3.m****here.biz clientdomain.co.nz mx
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 7067
;; flags: qr aa rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 2, ADDITIONAL: 3

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;clientdomain.co.nz. IN MX

;; ANSWER SECTION:
clientdomain.co.nz. 86400 IN MX 10 mail3.myhostingdomain.com.
 
yes it is one day, but most servers do not cache it that whole time, SOME will but many/most don't
 
Okay, thanks. So what happens when mail hits the old server after the move? I've thought of creating a custom MX and moving mail to a completely different host a few days before the move to get it out the way. Probably not worth the hassle if I know what will happen during the time of uncertainty if I simply move things at JodoHost.

Cheers
Ross
 
Hey Ross -- I rencently did a similar account move where NS server remained the same, but actual server changed. My http was down for 2 - 20 hours, my mail was less than 12 hours, in most cases mail was less than 2 hours.
If you want zero downtime, then you need to get a third party host, set that up, point everything there, then set up your new Jodo account, then move everything there. May or may not be worth the hassle to ensure zero mail lost. Most mail servers should retry, but no guarantees...

The other option is to ask the nice folks at jodo if you could have your UNIX account on a different nameserver (I would imagine there is a ns1/2 somewhere)? That way, you would not have to lose the old account prior to the new one being propagated everywhere on the web. Just my 2 cents...
 
Thanks Timruns, that's exactly what I've do for the mail. I have a VPS at another host and since this guy is only using forwarding, no mailboxes, it was easy to route his mail elsewhere with a custom MX. I did that yesterday so by tonight a good 30 hours or so will have passed so I can move the sites without worrying about mail.

I have to admit that I'm a little skeptical, Stephen, when you say that it would retry. I guess it depends on the sending server but my experience is that if mail hits a mail server and that server replies "Sorry, I don't know that domain. Cannot relay ..." then the sender gets a bounce but its a permanent error. It doesn't retry in the hope that the MX pointer or the server configuration will change. Its happened on my VPS when I've forgotten to add a domain to the list of local domains.

Cheers
Ross
 
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