changing servers

what (if any) are the implications of changing servers?

i am on a unix server right now, and currently considering moving
to a windows server which has less problems with frontpage extentions (so i hear)

any problems if the site is on one server in the morning and a different one
a few hours later?

 

Do you own the server?

 

nope, its a hosting package.

 

Do you currently use .htaccess? 'Cause you wont be able to w/ windows.

What are your concerns? W/ search enigines?

 

Are you moving from unix to a win server with the same ISP? If so, apart from, as Rob says, the htaccess stuff, there shouldn't be much of an issue.

If you're shifting your DNS then you'll have only have propogation, maybe a minor stat hiccup and possibly server physical location issues. And don't forget if you have any dynamic tricks running on one server, the new ISP may have different ways of executing them (paths etc)

When moving servers you need to think your long term strategy - will you be using ASP or PHP with winSQL or mySQL etc... is Frontpage extensions a big enough reason to shift server?

 

Will Frontpage let you access your new host via IP number so you can load your site onto your new host before you make the DNS change? It didn't in the past, but I am a couple of years out of date with Frontpage.

 

>>Do you currently use .htaccess?

I have done...but not right now. I have never heard of NOT using .htaccess with
windows servers...have you got any links??

>>Are you moving from unix to a win server with the same ISP?
Yep...same company...different hosting package

they will handle the switch if i give the go ahead..all i do is change the package...and they do the rest...

>>will you be using ASP or PHP with winSQL or mySQL etc

LOLOLOL...no toys or gimmicks ...only flat non validating html

 

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=htaccess+windows+servers&btnG=Search&meta= or as Josh would say...

OK, shouldn't be a prob then...

...fair enough, but does that really justify shifting win to unix just for the sake of using FP extensions, or could you look ahead and see that your XX hour to upload site be better off as a PHP site on a unix box?

 

What kind of problems are you having with Frontpage? What version of FP? Do you have cpanel? How big is the site in questiion (mb)?
What is your current OS for the website? What OS are you publishing from?
What does your host say is the issue? What error message say? Try to publish with frontpage; get an error; then search for the wecerr.txt file.

I've seen many moves from unix to a windows - and go from the fryman into the fire.

 

cheers Lever..and all

problems... unstable frontpage extentions..and apparently they time out in installation as the site is TOO BIG ????, basically made a few forms..that dont work...it might be remedied now...which is why i have been thinking about upgrading, testing as i type.
Version 2003
cpanel...no, but there are tools within the package for activating/de activating FP extentions.
How big is the site 1.05 GIG, (56,000 files.)
What OS xp home.
then search for the wecerr.txt file what does that do?

TIA
G-E-M

 

I have used linux servers and Frontpage all my life... no problems at all.

 

Ok; this is what I would tell you if you were my customer. With a site that big; you're gonna have issues whether you use windows or not. It's the nature of the beast: frontpage. Frontpage doesn't handle large sites all that efficiently; and yours is huge. (I had a customer once that I actually forbade to install his own extensions because of the size of his site. He *had* to call me to do it, otherwise I wouldn't help him with his other issues, and I would reinstall/recalculate his extensions from the command line

I wouldn't move the site if I were you. What I would do is first: eliminate any files you don't need.
Second; break the site up into frontpage subwebs - FP will handle this better.
Third: Get more space. If your site is over a gig: get 3 gigs of space - the more the better. This is why: When you get ready to publish with FP, it opens the site with the extensions. On a small site; it uses anywhere from 5-10 megs, *just to open the site.* On a site the size of yours; I'd wager FP is using at least a gig simply to open, let alone publish. You need plenty of space. Check to make sure your log files aren't taking up alot of space.

The wecerr.txt is a file that frontpage writes to locally; you can get the last error message that was caused by frontpage. (Or a successful message if you were successful)

 

First time fer everything! There are instances of FP98 not working on Linux servers (especially those with cpanel). You'd be surprised how many people still use FP98.

 

I'm just waiting for Frontpage 06...

Love to keep all my software updated.

 

It's a good thing to keep software updated. Many people don't.

 

It wasn't a good thing to update WS_FTP Pro! Their newest version BLOWS...HARD!

I would really try to stay on Unix if possible. I have an IIS set up at my office and I hate it. Unfortunately I have to use it because of the DFS set up.

 

1)files i dont need are basically gone
2)subwebs? a subweb...thats just a folder lower down than the root?
ie: myhomepage.com/london.....or do you mean something else?
i have thought about sub-DOMAINS....however that would mean NEW url's
and bye bye google for a while.
3)i have 4 gig ofs space in total with 1.7 gig available....

this is the weird part..
Used files 60,731
Total file allowance 1,024,000
Available files 963,269

if there are problems already...imagine if i used the 963,000 files still available

i have only used 60K files, and there are issues, whats the point in offering
a million files if the servers cant handle it??

 

A subweb is simply a folder. The term subweb was coined by microsoft many moons ago. You create/upload the folder, then login live to your server with Frontpage; right click the folder and select "convert to subweb".
But with the size of your site; you may have problems doing this.

It's not a server issue. It's a frontpage issue - it doesn't handle huge websites well - uses tons of resources. With a site this size; you'll experience issues like you're experiencing no matter what operating system you publish to. I've been working with Frontpage since 1997 on the technical side and this is classic.
You would think that by the newest version these problems would be corrected.

Do you use the extensions/webbots extensively? If you don't, then I would suggest using Frontpage to create/edit the site locally; but use a regular FTP program to publish your files.

 

i use the local bots that run in FP...each page has 8 included pages..which are organised by frontpage...so thats about 200,000 includes.

i havent used frontpage extentions at all, until 2 days ago when i created a simple form...and need extentions to get it working.

can i create a form that doesnt require the extentions?

The site locally is so huge..i recently corruped it by trying to delete a folder that only had 400 pages in it....by the time FP worked out what include pages went where and what to delete, it froze. I need to split it up somehow locally...and/or change servers as well, as i am unsure if a windows server will handle the extentions better

any advice is appreciated, however like mentioned before...i dont want to change any urls which will upset my google positions.

does dreamweaver work the same way?..use bots to organise include pages?

 

I've never used fp in a users capacity; only from a troubleshooting end; so I can't really speak to the use of FP includes. Depending on how your filenames are named (html or php or whatever); you could probably switch to either php includes (using the htaccess trick used for the coop), or use ssi includes- which would involve you naming your pages to shtml. I have several htm pages that use php includes.

Yes. Go to http://mindpalette.com and download the free version of Natemail. It's got a great tutorial. I put up an example you can copy at http://flawebworks.com/example.htm.

You'll need to look at the source code. Feel free to use it. Upload your form
with ftp.

You could try changing the folders to subwebs locally: in FP; right click a folder and convert to web.

Dreamweaver doesn't use bots, although I know Frontpage users use the 2 interchangably. I don't use Dreamweaver to that extent; I handcode everything, so I open dreamweaver and type. I quit using it for organization purposes because it hindered me more than helped me. DW has a great find and replace feature, and I used it as a learning tool to learn Css. Dreamweaver *does* have extensions you can download and install locally to assist you; but they don't need to be installed server side.