There are various reasons why an online business owner like you has decided
to switch to a new web hosting providers. Your old web hosting provider probably
has very poor technical support, or their web server is always down, or may be
your old web hosting provider cannot meet your hosting requirements anymore or
you could have discovered a cheaper web hosting service…and etc. Regardless of
the reasons, now you have found a new web hosting service and you need to
transfer your website from your current web host to the new web host. Below is
the steps-by-steps guide that you can follow to achieve a painless and error
free of moving to a new web hosting provider.

Transfer Schedule

Ideally, you should plan the transfer one month before you terminate your old
web hosting plan in order to have sufficient time to perform a smooth transfer.
Doing the transfer in less than one month time frame will put your website in
risk of inaccessible.

New web hosting service registration

Now, sign-up your new web hosting service once you have decided the termination
date mentioned above. Depending on your new web hosting provider, your new web
hosting account usually will be set up within 24 hours.

Files Backup

While waiting for your new web hosting account to be created, it is time to
backup all your web files on the old web hosting provider. In most cases, you
already have all the files of your website on your local computer. However, it
is still a good idea to backup all your files from the old web server. In
addition to the normal HTML files, you may need to backup any script files,
databases files, and even server logs files if it is necessary. You should
create a directory structure that is similar to the directory structure on your
web server and download the files into the respective directory.

Files uploading

Once you are notified that your new web hosting account has been created, you
will receive a notification email from your new web hosting provider. In that
email, it contains all the information required to set up website, this
including the FTP server information. With that FTP information, you can now FTP
to your new web hosting server and upload all your files. You should start by
first creating the directory structures on the web server, and then upload all
the files to the respective directory.

It is the time to install any script files or databases if there are used in
your website. Likewise, it is a good time to set up all the email accounts
through the administration panel.

Once you have finished uploading all the files and installed the script files or
databases, you can now use the temporary URL to test your site. The temporary
URL can be found in the notification email from your new web hosting provider.
The temporary URL could probably in this format:

http://viola.lunarpages.com/~your-web-account-name

Testing

Using the temporary URL directory, you can now test your web site online. Due to
the fact that different web hosting server may require different server
environment to execute. Therefore, you need to verify all the scripts (such as
CGI, Perl) are working accordingly. In addition, you should test all the
hyperlinks in the normal web pages if possible to ensure no broken links. While
you are testing through the temporary URL directory, your website hosted on the
old web hosting provider is still continue operating.

Transfer domain name

Once you have finished testing your new website on the temporary URL and
verified it is working perfectly. The next step is to contact your current
domain name registrar (i.e. the company where you register your domain name) to
change the old DNS (Domain Name Server) to point to the new DNS of your new web
hosting provider. Usually, the DNS information is sent to you through email
after you register successful with the new web hosting provider. Alternatively,
you will be able to find the DNS information from the website of your new
hosting provider.


Domain name servers control how a domain name is resolved. Typically, the domain
name servers are in following format:

NS1.YOUR-NEW-WEB-HOSTING.COM
NS2.YOUR-NEW-WEB-HOSTING.COM

Some domain name registrar requires the IP addresses of the DNS, in this case
you have to provide the IP addresses of your new DNS. For example:

NS1: 216.193.194.212

NS2: 216.193.207.106

Typically, it will take about 24-72 hours to get the DNS record changed and
propagated through all the WHOIS servers. You can use Whois tools on the
Internet such as whois.com to monitor the status of the DNS transfer. Once the
transfer is completed, you will notice the change to your new DNS.
Alternatively, you can make a minor modification to your home page (for example,
adding a new image or symbol) and upload to the new web hosting server. When you
access your home page through the normal domain name (www.your-website.com) and
you notice the new home page, then you are sure that the DNS has been
transferred successfully.

Final Testing

Now, your website on the new web hosting provider is officially transferred.
You should repeat all the tests to ensure it is fully functional. Once you are
confirmed the new website is working correctly, you can go ahead to terminate
your old web hosting account.