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torifile
Less than Stellar Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Durham, NC
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2008-11-12, 00:13

I've just about had it with dreamhost these days. I'm under a deadline and I have been having nothing but trouble with my site's speed. I can't move hosts now because our conference is in 2 days but as a punitive measure I'm leaving them with all my sites. I've got 5 or 6 sites fully hosted with them right now. What's the best way to do this? I want a minimal amount of fuss but I realize it's going to be a difficult transition. How do I best prepare for this switch?
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PKIDelirium
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
 
2008-11-12, 00:23

Have everything transferred and uploaded and functional on the new host before you change the DNS, that way it's pretty seamless to the end user.
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Brad
Selfish Heathen
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
 
2008-11-12, 00:43

Yup. If you have static content, the user won't even notice a change.

If you have interactive/mutable content, you'll have to disable changes somehow before you make the switch, copy the latest version to the new server, enable changes on the new server, and flip the DNS. When we moved AppleNova last, this is what I did. I turned off the forums on DreamHost with a message that we were moving, dumped and transferred the database to Linode, loaded the DB and reenabled the forums on Linode, and pushed the DNS change. That way anyone whose DNS was updated could interact with the new forums and anyone whose DNS was not updated would get a "please try again in a few hours!" message.

Whenever you switch, you'll need to allow for several hours (up to 24) for the DNS switch to fully propagate the 'net. Look at your recent traffic and find a low point. Usually a time in the wee hours after midnight on a weekday will be the best fit. Another reason for switching at a low traffic point is so you can diagnose and tweak any last-minute problems while affecting a minimum number of visitors.

Have you decided what new host you'll be using? Will it be a managed/shared host like DreamHost or something more hands-on like a VPS?

The quality of this board depends on the quality of the posts. The only way to guarantee thoughtful, informative discussion is to write thoughtful, informative posts. AppleNova is not a real-time chat forum. You have time to compose messages and edit them before and after posting.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2008-11-12, 02:08

The way I did it was to buy the new host (Server4You in my case) and then stop all updates and changes on my original server. Copied my SQL DBs and site directories onto my local system. Set up the new server and installed web sites remembering to make changes to structure of URLs as needed since my new host ran different directory structures than my last. Imported my SQL DBs into the new server after setting up the accounts for it. Changed my sites to use the new credentials and DBs names. Set up email servers on the new server. Changed DNS info on my registrar.

To make it easy on me, I changed the front page on my sites too by adding the word new somewhere so I would know when the new server is being used. Removed the sites from the old server. I guess I should have waited longer for the DNS change to propagate, but I didn't wait.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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scratt
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Join Date: Jul 2004
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2008-11-12, 04:41

DNSMadeEasy is worth looking at.
It's another level of indirection but allows you to change back and forth between servers without any propagation delay. Just a thought..
But then you have to have moved to them for a few days prior to your move to allow propagation to them!

'Remember, measure life by the moments that take your breath away, not by how many breaths you take'
Extreme Sports Cafe | ESC's blog | scratt's blog | @thescratt
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torifile
Less than Stellar Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Durham, NC
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2008-11-12, 09:05

Fortunately, my sites get very low traffic (except this time of year when Dreamhost is especially sucking). After this conference, I expect a lull. While my sites are "dynamic" they're pretty static.

What about my SSL certificate? I bought one for taking credit cards through google checkout. I also had to buy a private IP address from Dreamhost to make it work but I'll eat that money if I have to. Will my SSL cert still work?

I'm not looking forward to moving one of my sites. It's my son's blog and it's very media heavy. My upload speed sucks so it'll take a year and a day to transfer. Ah well...

As far as new hosts, I had been thinking that a nice easy solution is what I like but I've found that all the one click installers in the world don't matter if your service sucks. I would like something that takes care of the complicated stuff for me. I don't want to have to do much to create new users, email accounts, etc. I don't mind installing my own CMS software.

Actually, Dreamhost was good for me in that way. I got shell access so I could curl and untar all my software remotely - getting around my slow upload speeds. It also made it easy to add users and manage my databases. Plus I loved the fact you could have unlimited domains under one hosting plan. I'll miss that.
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torifile
Less than Stellar Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Durham, NC
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2009-03-04, 22:05

I'm beginning the process of migrating over to Linode. I'm trying it on one of my unused domains to see how it goes.

I switched my DNS to zoneedit's servers over at dreamhost. Is there anything else I need to do? I mean other than get Linode's server set up properly?

If it's not red and showing substantial musculature, you're wearing it wrong.
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