Posted by: Anonymous
Posted on: 2006-06-14 20:14:00
Hi guys,i'm currently at a host but i would like to switch to dreamhost.Can i ask the support staff to transfer the files for me?Or i can only transfer myself?
How can i minimise the downtime when transferring?
Thanks.
Posted by: Raz2133
Posted on: 2006-06-14 22:09:00
In reply to:Can i ask the support staff to transfer the files for me?Or i can only transfer myself?
I am afraid you will have to transfer the files yourself.
In reply to:How can i minimise the downtime when transferring?
The best way to minimise downtime is to create a free dreamhosters.com sub-domain and set it to mirror your domain. You can then transfer your site files and ensure that everything works ok before disabling the old site.
Once everything is working OK at DreamHost, you can configure the domains DNS records to point at the DreamHost DNS servers (ns1.dreamhost.com etc...), you do this using whatever configuration utility your current domain registrar provides. Within a couple of days the DNS changes will propagate across the Internet and your new site will replace the old one.
Once all this is complete, you can transfer the domain registration to DreamHost as well, if this is what you want.
There is a wiki article on this procedure at the link below.
http://www.wiki.dreamhost.com/index.php/DNS_-_Viewing_site_before_DNS_change
Mark