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Moving Host...Checklist?
| Posted by SimonMc, 05-16-2003, 02:55 AM |
| Hi,
I am about to move hosts but I do not want to make any mistakes at my end. I am on a CPanel reseller account with Mchost ant the moment.
Can somebody with better knowledge than me give me a check list (idiots guide) on what I need to do to get all my 5 or 6 domains off of McHost and comfortably settled into yet to be choosen new home.
Thanks for your help.
Simon
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| Posted by SoftWareRevue, 05-16-2003, 04:11 AM |
| Get a host that uses cPanel and have him copy all the accounts over is the easiest solution.
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| Posted by Jim_UK, 05-16-2003, 04:19 AM |
| 1. Choose a new host
I won't go into detail on this one as there's millions of posts in this forum on how to find decent host's and I'm sure you already have one lined up.
Make sure to ask them first though on their policy with moving your accounts for you and whether there are any 'if's, 'but's or fees involved.
2. Signup
Signup with the new host. It may make it easier for them if you include the username and password of your main domain at your previous host because then thy can move this domain across beforehand instead of creating a clean account only to have to remove it later on when you want your accounts moving (assuming you are using the same main domain and wish this to be moved too).
3. Provide info for the move
Provide the following details to your new host so they can move your accounts:
- username
- password
- IP Address (found in the List Accounts section of WHM on your old host).
It probably helps to include the domains with this too. The above info must be provided for each account and should be enough info for them to copy them across.
4. Check them
Once your new host has copied them, check everything by logging into their cpanel (http://newserver.hostname.com/cpanel/) and by accessing them via http (http://newserver.hostname.com/~username/). If all looks good, login to your WHM and create your packages an use the upgrade/downgrade feature to confirm the package of each. This sorts out any little quota issues that may be off sync and also confirms the theme in use in case a different theme was in use previously.
5. DNS Edits
Goto your registrar and change the IP's associated with your nameservers. If you have the same private nameservers setup at each host this should be all that needs doing and you won't need to change the nameservers on each domain.
If you have access to the DNS zone editing at your prvious host, login and change all instances of the old server IP address to that of your new host (check the dns zones at the new host to confirm real ip's). This will speed up the dns changes and forward any http/ftp/etc requests to your new reseller account without major delay.
To do the job properly you'll need your previous host to remove the domains from /etc/localdomains so that email gets delivered from your old server to your new server during the 24-72 hours where the nameserver ip's are still active but this will need to be done by your host. Most host's won't do this for you so you'll just need to wait until the nameserver ip dns changes are in force which takes 24-72 hours.
6. Close previous account
After a few days everything should be served from your new reseller account and all should be done. This is the time that you can close your old reseller account without fear of anything dropping offline.
Hope this helps
Last edited by Jim_UK; 05-16-2003 at 04:26 AM.
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| Posted by SimonMc, 05-16-2003, 04:20 AM |
| OK...that is a good start.
Does that also copy over stuff like my Security Cert...or does that need to be re done.
Also...what about htaccess files...mysql databases....email...phpmanager...etc etc?
There are a lot of us out there that have been with one host so long inspite of the problems just because the fear of moving is greater than the problems received.
As you can imagine...I have to put my business first and although hosts have problems.....no communication is intollerable. Hence the need now to educate myself rapidly to get our of hades den!
Simon
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| Posted by sitekeeper, 05-16-2003, 04:21 AM |
| That is without a doubt the best way. The other ways involve using SSH and resetting ownership and permissions to all of the files.
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| Posted by Jim_UK, 05-16-2003, 04:24 AM |
| The cPanel/WHM method of copying accounts will copy your htaccess files, all other files, databases, email accounts, email inboxes, subdomains, and pretty much everything else.
I don't think it will move your SSL certificates though and this will need setting up again on your new host (30 second job)
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| Posted by SimonMc, 05-16-2003, 04:31 AM |
| That should be interesting. Took them 3 days at McHost to get it right.
Simon
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| Posted by Jim_UK, 05-16-2003, 04:33 AM |
| In that case I'll rephrase:
30-259200 second job
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| Posted by trustedurl.com, 05-16-2003, 10:21 AM |
| It doesn't copy over the secure cert and you'll have to edit each zone to have the right dns servers.
Also, if you don't have root access then mailman mailing lists aren't transferred.
Also, make sure your users didn't create any mysql databases from the command line as they are not transferred properply (ie. permissions aern't taken into account).
good luck with your new host
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| Posted by RotoHost, 05-16-2003, 01:59 PM |
| Hopefully you've saved the key and cert files when you originally installed your certificate. I got caught this way and found it easier to just purchase another certificate.
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| Posted by brandonk, 05-16-2003, 02:06 PM |
| Make sure to ask your new host if they will do the move for you or not... not everybody is as nice as the people on this board.
idologic...I remember reading a little while ago that it did copy mailman lists, I know it didn't used to, but maybe it does now?
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| Posted by trustedurl.com, 05-16-2003, 02:29 PM |
| afaik that only works if you have the root password for the other server.
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| Posted by SimonMc, 05-16-2003, 03:31 PM |
| Thanks everybody for your help. These boards are a life saver. I remember reading on here a while back about a poor chap who had to buy a new cert because he lost his key...so armed with that titbit...I made a point of saving mine when I bought it.
I would just like to say that the quality of response from most of the resellers here has been superb.
The move has gone without a hitch!
All I need to do now is wait for my name servers propagation to complete and send Marc "the old spanish archer"
Simon
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