I'm trying to move my site from one server to another without any downtime. A simple .htaccess redirection should take care that. Some users will just see the IP aadress on their address bar for a while. Have I got all the steps down? 1. Reg new nameservers at godaddy using my primary ip of the new server. (As 3rd and 4th nameserver - the old ones will stay in place.) 2. Submit the same nameservers and IPs on the new server as primary nameservers using the same details. (under Basic WHM setup). 3. Add an A entry for both of the nameservers? I'm not sure what this is, but I guess I just have to click the button for both of the new nameservers. 4. Wait until the new nameservers have propagated. Optional step if I'm going with redirection anyway? 5. Change the domain's nameservers to the new nameserves at godaddy and set up .htaccess reditection from the old server to the new servers IP aaddress.
This is how we would do it. 1. Set up the web site on the new servers - even things like DNS 2. Check that it is working correctly - don't do anything else until that is complete Pause. Take your time with this. Get it working. You're now ready to make the new server your "live" server. 3. If it has a database, move the database to the new servers. If you can take your site off-line during this do so, just so you don't lose any new data. It should only be for a few minutes. 4. Change the A record in the existing DNS to the new site IP 5. Set up a re-direct rule from the old to new servers That should now be the site working on the new server. Previous visitors will still end up at the old server but the re-direct rule will deal with that. New visitors will be visiting the new server. Now you need to change the DNS servers for your domain (if that's what you are doing) 6. Change the authorative DNS servers at the domain registrar to the new DNS servers. 7. Let the changes propogate for a few days, then delete the site from the old servers and close the account. There should be no downtime - except for the time taken to transfer the DB if you don't want to lose any new records. Don't be in a hurry to shut down the old site. Keep an eye on visitor logs and you should see within about 48 hours there are few, if any, visitors to the old server. That's when it's safe to close the old server down. If you still gets lots of visitors to the old server, check the DNS settings to be sure you haven't made a mistake. It's pretty simple, just takes some planning.
I'm having trouble getting the nameservers to ping and resolve. It has been 24 hours - nothing. Do the new nameservers actually start to work while the domain itself is using the old nameservers? I'm not expecting the domain to point to the new server, but the new nameservers should still work right? Do you know how to check if the A record has been set correctly for the new nameservers?
When you say you can't ping them, as you sure the new nameservers can be pinged in the first place. Some hosts don't allow public pings. Also, what, exactly, are you pinging? can you paste the command here. They should be working, and if you contact them directly they should return the information they contain for your web site. They will "work" but since they aren't authorative for your domain (until you make them so with the domain registrar) they won't return infomration to anyone looking for information about your domain. But, if you contact them directly they should return the relevant information. The A record is the simplest DNS entry and mainly consists of 2 items 1. the IP address e.g. 111.111.111.111 2. The name of the subdomain e.g. www, or * (wilcard), or ftp or some other entry. If you're using a control panel, what does is say? Try this. It might work for you, it might not. You'll need a PC 1. Open a command prompt 2. Type: nslookup 3. Type: server <ipaddress of DNS server) e.g. server 11.11.11.11 4. Type: name of domain It should return the information for the site that this DNS server contains.
There is a lot more it then you think, You need to transfer all of the files first, setup the site on the other server, change the ips/dns and allow for it to change, and you may lose some posts if it's a forum but it's impossible not to, if you want no downtime.