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In this section we try to provide useful articles that will help webmasters find their way in the webhosting market. Any contributions are welcome, so please feel free to submit your own article.
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- If you wish to contribute and have your article published on NosHosts, please do not hesitate and send your materials to articles@noshosts.com
Changing hosting companies
Sooner or later every webmaster decides that his current web host no longer meets his requirements so a change is necessary. Moving to a new hosting company is good for your growing website, but there are also a lot of catches you need to be aware of, before making the switch. Knowing what to expect will help you avoid any possible problems that will most likely occur and lead to website downtime. It is necessary that you make a plan and follow it strictly.
Once you have found your new hosting company it is time to move on. It is a good idea to ask your new host whether they can transfer your website for you. However, it is better that you do it by yourself, just to make sure nothing gets overlooked.
- back it up. Before taking any steps, make sure you have everything from your old host backuped in a secure location. This includes e-mail, databases and website files.
- compatibility. Check to see whether your new webhost meets all your requirements. This includes not only disk space and bandwidth, but also operating system, web server software, database, scripting languages, etc.
- upload your files to the new server. Make sure you keep the same file permissions as some of your scripts may depend on them.
- test everything. Ask your new hosting company how to preview your website before making the DNS change. Check all scripts on your website, contact forms, galleries, database-related pages. If it all looks fine, move on to the next step.
- forwarding. When you update the DNSes for your domain name and make them to point to the new server, it will take about 12 hours before all visitors start to open your website from the new location instead of the old one. That's why you need to set a forwarding on the old server before making any DNS changes. There are many techniques for doing this, the most common is using an .htaccess file. Make sure you redirect your visitors correctly to the new server, preferably via it's IP address. Check the forwarding by yourself to make sure you get redirected to the new location.
- DNSes. Get the DNSes you should use from your new hosting company and set them for your domain name. Check it against the whois database to make sure the change is effective. Then wait. Visitors will start to see your website from the new location. But - some of them will go directly there and some will be forwarded from your old server. So don't cancel your account with the old company before you make sure that no one is being forwarded from the old server. The best way to make sure is simply look at the stats.
Good luck with your new host.
Sooner or later every webmaster decides that his current web host no longer meets his requirements so a change is necessary. Moving to a new hosting company is good for your growing website, but there are also a lot of catches you need to be aware of, before making the switch. Knowing what to expect will help you avoid any possible problems that will most likely occur and lead to website downtime. It is necessary that you make a plan and follow it strictly.
Once you have found your new hosting company it is time to move on. It is a good idea to ask your new host whether they can transfer your website for you. However, it is better that you do it by yourself, just to make sure nothing gets overlooked.
- back it up. Before taking any steps, make sure you have everything from your old host backuped in a secure location. This includes e-mail, databases and website files.
- compatibility. Check to see whether your new webhost meets all your requirements. This includes not only disk space and bandwidth, but also operating system, web server software, database, scripting languages, etc.
- upload your files to the new server. Make sure you keep the same file permissions as some of your scripts may depend on them.
- test everything. Ask your new hosting company how to preview your website before making the DNS change. Check all scripts on your website, contact forms, galleries, database-related pages. If it all looks fine, move on to the next step.
- forwarding. When you update the DNSes for your domain name and make them to point to the new server, it will take about 12 hours before all visitors start to open your website from the new location instead of the old one. That's why you need to set a forwarding on the old server before making any DNS changes. There are many techniques for doing this, the most common is using an .htaccess file. Make sure you redirect your visitors correctly to the new server, preferably via it's IP address. Check the forwarding by yourself to make sure you get redirected to the new location.
- DNSes. Get the DNSes you should use from your new hosting company and set them for your domain name. Check it against the whois database to make sure the change is effective. Then wait. Visitors will start to see your website from the new location. But - some of them will go directly there and some will be forwarded from your old server. So don't cancel your account with the old company before you make sure that no one is being forwarded from the old server. The best way to make sure is simply look at the stats.
Good luck with your new host.
