How to Move to a New Web Host

Unless you run a large e-commerce site, moving your site to a new web host need not be a harrowing experience. Following these steps will ensure a smooth transition with a minimum of disruption to your visitors.

Most website owners get jittery when the time comes to move to a new web host, but there’s really no reason to. Whether you’re moving to a provider that can better expand with you or you’re leaving an unreliable or unsupportive host, the actual procedure of moving your site is simple and straightforward.

Two caveats: If you’re reading this, we’re going to assume you’re not running an e-commerce site with 50,000 products or anything close to it. In that case, you’d need professional help to ensure a smooth transition. Also, switching domains in addition to hosts is more disruptive and involves setting a 301 re-direct on your old domain. It can do a real number on your search engine rankings, so it’s widely suggested that you avoid switching domains unless absolutely necessary.

For the vast majority of site owners, however, moving requires some forethought and attention to detail, but the transfer can very often be completed without any hiccups. Here’s how to do it in five simple steps:

1. Open an account with your new web host. There are many informative articles on choosing a host, so we won’t go into the details here, but before you move, take the time to choose a highly rated host that can grow as your site does. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, as that will help you determine the quality of their support, not to mention give you the peace of mind as you make the transfer that help is just an email or phone call away. If you’re going to be transferring your site immediately, now’s the time to change the TTL on your old host to a low number, such as 1800 or so, which is half an hour. Your TTL tells DNS servers and browsers how long they can keep your IP address in their cache. This is usually a day or so, but you’ll want to lower the value while you transfer your site so that people are redirected to the new host as quickly as possible.
2. It’s backup time. Copy your site to its new home using SCP protocol. Simply copy the entire directory structure. For added safety, you can also make a complete archive of your site. Try to fit everything into one archive with the same directory structure as your existing site. If you have a blog, you’ll need to dump the database into a file and copy that to the new host. This varies by blog and database type, so you’ll need to consult your database documentation for the precise commands. If you run a blog, now’s the time to post a message telling your visitors that comments posted before your next update will not appear on the new site.
3. Unpack everything at your new, hopefully roomier and speedier, home. If you have a static site only, it should already be there with its directory structure intact. If you have a blog as well, fire up your blogging software and configure it to look for the database you just copied.
4. Test, test, test. You’ll need to test absolutely everything to ensure nothing broke during the transfer process. This is where that meticulous attention to detail comes in, because it can be really tempting to say, “oh, this page worked, so these other 10 should work too.” This often comes back to bite you. If it’s an archive page that hardly anyone ever uses, that’s one thing, but you should make certain that the most popular aspects of your site are working as they did before the big move.
5. Flip the switch. More precisely, point your domain at the name servers specified by your new host. Again, this varies by domain registrar, but there’s usually a simple web interface to get the job done. Blog owners should post a message letting people know that the update was completed and comments will again be accepted. Once the deed is done, periodically check the logs at the new site to determine when visitors are directed to the new host. After about 48 hours, everyone should be accessing your new IP address and thus your new host, at which point you can shut down the old site, sit back and take a deep breath; the job is done!

This is a guest post and you can read author box to get more information about Roko, new guest blogger for eBlogTip dot Com.