Basics
When moving your hosting, we recommend the following basic procedure. If any of this sounds a bit too much or too technical to you, do not worry, our experts will be there to help with the entire transfer from start to finish. Please also call us on +27 21 300-3873 or +27 82 309-6710 (WhatsApp) if you need in depth information.
Transferring services are meant to be non-disruptive. To achieve total uptime during a transfer, the method we use is to make copies of all old assets on the Vander Host server. That means we copy the website files, the database backup, and any email accounts and users across. In some situations it’s impossible to copy passwords, but even so, no email will get lost.
It’s critically important to give notice at your old hosting provider. All hosts have different cancellation procedures and notice periods, so be sure to contact their customer services to find out how this works. There is a common misperception that the old provider will just cancel or delete the services if you give notice – this should never be the case. Just follow their exact procedure but for safety, you must ensure that you feel comfortable with the copies of your digital assets on Vander Host’s servers.
Steps for a Transfer
- Order new hosting service from Vander Host
- Vander Host will set up the new services, e.g.:
- Create the hosting / Restore the backup
- Create the email accounts
If mail migrations are needed, we use IMAPSYNC to keep mailboxes copies up to date.
Testing
Once you’re happy that there is a perfect duplicate on the Vander Host side, the DNS records can be updated. We typically start with the WWW and @.domain name record, and then we handle the MX record. This entire process is carefully tracked by a senior migration specialist.
Once the DNS records are updated, your service is now live at Vander Host.
We can also migrate the DNS, but since these are dependant on your DNS configuration we would typically engage with you to recommend the best source of action.
Key Points to Remember
- It's best to make perfect copies of the website before the transfer. It's possible to use host records to test before updating the DNS.
- Do not transfer the name before you have made the copies, because during the transfer the DNS of the name will not be updateable.
- It's best to inform the old host that you are transferring away - in some cases they anyway have to provide an EPP code for the transfer.
- If you want to have all emails transferred across, you typically need to have the passwords at the source domain, or be willing to reset them.
- Resetting passwords can be highly disruptive and trigger firewalls. The email migration part of your transfer needs to be planned really well.
Email to Email Transfers
Email to email transfer is the aspect that needs to be carefully planned.
The follow are "easy" migrations as passwords will come across seamlessly:
- Foreign cPanel domain to Vander Host cPanel
- Foreign cPanel domain to Vander Host Virtualmin
Please note the Virtualmin cPanel import doesn't work with add-on domains, so these have to be imported manually.
Xneelo uses their own control panel so transfer of email is more complicated. If you want perfect sync you would need the incoming passwords or have the ability to reset them. Please bear in mind password resetting could lead to a lot of client side support so that needs to be even better planned.
