Moving a site is an operation without mystery, provided it is done in order. The order is in fact the whole subject: copy first, check next, switch the domain last. The reverse produces an outage nothing can make up for.
The principle
As long as the domain points at the old host, your visitors see the old site: you can therefore prepare the new one quietly, without anyone noticing. The domain switch only happens once the copy has been checked.
What to retrieve from the old host
| To retrieve | Note |
|---|---|
| The site's files | The full tree, hidden configuration files included |
| The databases | One export per database, in SQL format |
| The email accounts and their messages | The most often forgotten point, and the most painful |
| The declared redirects and subdomains | To be reproduced with us identically |
| The scheduled tasks | Their content and their frequency |
The certificate, for its part, does not travel: a new one is issued with us, automatically.
The steps
- Order the hosting. Activation is immediate and gives you what you need to work.
- Retrieve from the old host the elements in the table above.
- Upload the files to your new hosting.
- Import the database, then carry its credentials into the site's configuration file.
- Check before switching. If you do not know how to preview a site before the domain points at it, ask us in a ticket: the method depends on your case.
- Lower the time-to-live of the domain's records at your registrar, the day before the switch. The network's servers will ask again more often, and propagation will be shorter.
- Switch the domain to our servers, with the values from the activation email.
- Wait for propagation to finish — see Connecting your domain name.
Do not cancel your old hosting on the day of the switch. Keep it active for a few days: it is your safety net, and it is where the messages that arrived during propagation are sleeping.
Email, the delicate point
During propagation, part of the world still sends your messages to the old server. Three precautions:
- create your addresses with us before the switch, so that no message arrives into a void;
- copy the old messages after the switch, once nothing new arrives at the old host any more;
- keep checking the old mailbox for a few more days.
After the switch
- Check that the
https://address responds, with and withoutwww. - Try a contact form and an order, if there are any.
- Send yourself a message from each address, and reply to it.
- Check the internal links: a migration often leaves absolute addresses pointing at the old domain.
- Do not leave two copies of the site reachable. Two identical sites online compete with each other in search engines.
What we can do
Describe your situation in a ticket before starting: the system used, the approximate volume, the number of email addresses, and the date on which you wish to switch. We will tell you the pitfalls specific to your case — they are never the same depending on whether the site is a showcase, a shop, or a custom application.