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Switching hosts

madmatt911

New Member
I plan on switching web hosts.

My concern is that my website will be affected. When I change the nameservers on my domain names to the new host, will there be any downtime for my website? I know it takes time for the settings to change, so would that make my website inaccessible?

Also this may be a stupid question, but does switching your webhost affect your search engine listing? I will be switching to 1and1.com
 
If your account is terminated on the old host, then yes there will be downtime. It can take between 24 - 72 hours for propagation to complete.

If you have a forum then I'd recommend closing it on your old host just before you have your account transferred and change nameservers. This shouldn't affect your search engine rankings.
 
It is just a website about my business. Static html, with some flash.

I will keep the old account up until I am done with the switch. Should there be a problem?
 
Yes you'll get a little down time in various places. This process is called propagation and it takes up to 48 - 72 hours and in some cases 7 days.
 
I am doing the switch right now with my less important sites and they are going very quick as far as the domain name goes. I am going to do my main website at night, so that there is likely less initial downtime for anyone visiting.
 
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toss in a new index.html page on your old host.

Telling users you have moved to a new server. Expalin how to clear out there temp caches ect set up new IP in host txt ect.

since most users will have the old IP cach on their local this will help them get to your new server.

Frank
 
I seem to have run into a problem. I switched over the dns and the URL with www. brings up the new host but without it, it brings up the old host!

Does it still need time or is something wrong?
 
I seem to have run into a problem. I switched over the dns and the URL with www. brings up the new host but without it, it brings up the old host!

Does it still need time or is something wrong?

You'll have to wait 48 - 72 hours for propagation. If you have a backup, ask your previous host to terminate your account.
 
Switching web host does nto affect search engine ranking as far as Search engines count the importance of the website content, not which is you hosting provider. The downtime can be zero or can be minimized to close to not more than an hour. But it is actually Zero.
 
You can do what you want, but I wouldn't recommend 1and1.com. I tried them years ago and customer service wasn't good and it was pure hell trying to cancel my account with them.
 
if both the servers are online, you should not experience any major downtime. Because you are having static web pages, the propogation delay should not affect served contents for the users.
 
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