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Switching Hosts: How to minimize down-time?
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: CO
Status:
Offline
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On the occasions when I have switched hosts I have had the occasion to switch hosting companies I've encountered the following challenge that I haven't seen mention:
The lag between the time I use the CP of my domain registrar to change the DNS server and the time that I can access the site at the new host ("time for the new location to propagate across the web" as registrars describe it) - either to browse the site or to ftp files to it.
Right now, for example, going to www. mysite .com no longer opens my site at the earlier host (which I left at 11pm last night) but shows an empty directory at the new host. whois.net still shows my OLD host servers & I cannot yet ftp files to NEW servers. This has occurred with various hosting companies.
Worst: I don't know whether it may be hours... or over a day when I WILL be able to upload the site to new host. I get no email notification... I have to give visiting back to see if it's available.
This is no way to run a high-tech railroad. Somebody must have an approach that cuts this down-time. Anybody?
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TOMBSTONE: "He's trashed his last preferences"
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Senior User
Join Date: Aug 2002
Status:
Offline
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1) COMPLETELY setup the new server with all your sites, emails and files...
2) Between 10:00 and 11:00 PM change the DNS. Most ISP's update their DNS in the early hours of the morning. By doing it late at night, any downtime will be when most people won't be looking at the site, and by the next morning it should be working. Unless of course you have an ISP who doesn't update their DNS every nights, instead doing it every couple of days. In that case it won't work until they get around to doing it.
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"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works." - Steve Jobs
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Aug 2004
Status:
Offline
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but shows an empty directory at the new host
The DNS must have propagated already then.
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Professional Poster
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Columbus, OH
Status:
Offline
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Originally Posted by NeXTLoop
...
2) Between 10:00 and 11:00 PM change the DNS. Most ISP's update their DNS in the early hours of the morning. By doing it late at night, any downtime will be when most people won't be looking at the site, and by the next morning it should be working. Unless of course you have an ISP who doesn't update their DNS every nights, instead doing it every couple of days. In that case it won't work until they get around to doing it.
Of course the web is the World Wide Web so what is early hours of the morning in one part of the world could be the middle of the day in another. That strategy only works for your particular locality.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Clogland
Status:
Offline
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I have a resellers account, I make a user, then I ftp everything to the IP address.
I then request the URL, I don't think that there is any downtime at all.
I do request that the old host back-up the email for the transfer period, but I already have the emails accounts made up. If someone is reading their email with an email client, I advice them to open up a new account with the new server details, as in two account, then there is very little risk of emails getting lost.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: CO
Status:
Offline
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Skalie... Thanks for a new twist to the strategy.
...gives me a reason to look into Reselling Accts.
I suspect you did a lot of researching into good performance/cost ratings before you locked into somebody's reseller program. Care to say who you ended up with?
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TOMBSTONE: "He's trashed his last preferences"
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Clogland
Status:
Offline
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: CO
Status:
Offline
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LOL... and what with my Dutch being so rusty 
But I always love seeing which English phrases pop up untranslated. On zylon, for example:
"Dedicated servers" == "Dedicated servers" !
(as opposed to, say, "redundant netwerk")
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TOMBSTONE: "He's trashed his last preferences"
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Senior User
Join Date: Jul 2004
Status:
Offline
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I never tried this but I heard about it. Not sure if it works:
What you do is make a full site backup and leave it on ur webserver. move it to ur public_html.
using the other site do a cron job and set it to 2 mins ahead of ur clock (just incase its off) and tell it to do a wget to the file at ur other site. Once it has downloaded it (check by the mb being same) onto the new website you move it under the public_html.
change the name of the file. it will be named:
backup-OLDWEBSITE.COM-MONTH-DAY-YEAR.tar.gz
and change it to
backup-NEWWEBSITE.COM-MONTH-DAY-YEAR.tar.gz
only change the address.
Then go into backup and it should have the recover from backup option. finishing it should restore it to how your site is when you did the backup.
after that follow what they say about the dns. but if the site dont work do a dns cache flush and that gets it. But sometimes isn't needed. We traded hosts and soon as the domain was pointed to the new server my computer picked it up and didn't have a problem.
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You shouldn't make fun of nerds... you'll be working for one some day.
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