Web Hosting | Singapore Host

How to transfer my website to Singapore Host without any downtime? - Powered by Kayako SupportSuite Helpdesk Software

	How to transfer my website to Singapore Host without any downtime?

Article Just the thought of changing your web hosting provider may make you head spin, but we will show you the steps to take so your site will not have any downtime. Following the below steps closely will ensure that your move to Singapore Host is a painless one.

Useful Information

* A domain transfer is not a website transfer, and vice versa. These are 2 separate processes.

* If you are also transferring the registration of your domain name to us (i.e. domain registrar transfer), you should select the option "I want to transfer my domain to Singapore Host" when signing up for a web hosting package. It is recommended that you sign up for the web hosting package and start your domain transfer at least 2 weeks before the domain expiry date to avoid any potential problems (the earlier the better). This is because certain domain registrars/hosting providers deliberately make the transfer-away process difficult by not doing the required, such as unlocking the domain and providing you with the EPP Code/Authorization Code/Registrar Transfer Password. If they also make themselves the owner/admin contact of your domain (which may be unknown to you), they may deliberately ignore the transfer approval request email, which will delay the transfer. The transfer may fail if approval is not given at least 1 week before the expiry date.

* It is also recommended that you start your website transfer at least 2 weeks before the end of the current term with your previous hosting provider.

1) The first step is to sign up for a Singapore Host package. You must not cancel your account with your previous hosting provider until you have completed all the steps, if you cancel too soon you may have a whole list of problems. Some web hosting providers terminate their clients' accounts as soon as they know that they are moving away to another hosting provider, even before the end of the billing term! Even if you are unhappy with your current provider hang in there it will only be a few more days.

2) At this point you should have hosting accounts with two hosting providers (the old and the new one).

If your previous hosting provider offers cPanel, we would recommend that you let us migrate your website for you. Please submit a ticket at https://www.singaporehost.sg/customers/submitticket.php to provide us with the cPanel login details to your previous account, and do not proceed to the next step yet. If your previous hosting provider does not offer cPanel or if you would like to transfer your website yourself, please proceed below.

You should now upload your entire site from the old hosting provider to the new one (Singapore Host). This can be done by connecting to your old account's FTP and downloading all your files to your computer, then connecting to the your new account's FTP and uploading all your files. The folder to upload to for your main web files is normally "public_html", unless your set up is different.

3) [This step is only required for users with MySQL databases only.] If you have MySQL databases, you will need to export them from your old hosting provider and import them to your new Singapore Host account. Then create the exact MySQL user and password, and add the user to the database. This can be done using our control panel. In some cases where the MYSQL database name and user name/password may have changed, you will need to update the configuration files for your scripts. Your script documentation or readme file should normally contain details on how to do this.

4) Another important task is to be sure that all your email addresses stay in operation. You need to create the same email addresses in Singapore Host's control panel, this will allow all the emails to keep coming through to you. There should now be identical content in both your old and new accounts.

If you are using IMAP for your email and want to transfer your email messages, because of compatibility issues, we are only able to transfer your email messages if your previous hosting provider offers cPanel. If so, please submit a ticket at https://www.singaporehost.sg/customers/submitticket.php to provide us with the cPanel login details to your previous account, and do not proceed to the next step yet.

5) As mentioned in Step 4, if you are using IMAP for your email but your previous hosting provider does not offer cPanel, we would recommend that you archive your old emails. Please update the email client for all email accounts (for example, Outlook, Windows Mail) to use POP3 connection (while using the previous provider's incoming/outgoing server settings). Please download all email messages for all email accounts using POP3, which will permanently save them to the computer. Please continue to use your previous hosting provider's POP3 settings to access and send your email before the transition is completed.

6) After you have all your files on both hosting accounts and all your email accounts have been recreated in Singapore Host's control panel, you will update your domain name's nameservers.

If you have chosen not to transfer the domain to us (i.e. you have selected the option "I will update my nameservers on an existing domain" when signing up), please refer to 6A.

If you have chosen to transfer your domain to us (you have selected the option "I want to transfer my domain to Singapore Host" when signing up), please refer to 6B.

6A) If you have chosen not to transfer the domain to us (i.e. you have selected the option "I will update my nameservers on an existing domain" when signing up), you will need to go to your current domain registrar's website to make the changes. In cases where you have registered your domain with your web hosting provider, your web hosting provider is also your domain registrar. Your domain registrar should provide you with access to the nameserver modification function. If not, you will need to request your domain registrar to make the changes.

6B) If you have chosen to transfer the domain to us, once the domain has been successfully transferred, you may submit a support ticket at https://www.singaporehost.sg/customers/submitticket.php to request us to change the nameservers for you after the above steps have been completed. Until after the domain has been transferred and the nameservers have been changed, the domain will still be hosted by your previous hosting provider. Domain transfer will typically take up to 7 days to complete after all required procedures have been completed, unless the current registrar approves the transfer earlier.

7) Once your nameserver changes have been made you will need to wait up to 48 hours before your site will load off Singapore Host. During this period when your DNS is propagating worldwide, and your site will still load off your old hosting provider and emails will continue to be sent to and from their server. After DNS propagation has been completed, your site and email will begin to be hosted by Singapore Host.

8) After 48 hours have passed and making sure that everything is working you can proceed to contact your old web hosting provider to cancel the account.

If you follow these steps closely the transfer should be a relatively smooth process.

We provide a free site migration service! Simply request the free service by contacting us with your old account details after signing up. The migration service is performed on a best-effort basis. If we are unable to perform the transfer for you because of any reason (examples: incompatibility issues, lack of account access) we will refund you the hosting fees.

If you have any questions please provide us with your domain name and other details at http://www.singaporehost.sg/contact.html

Article Details

Article ID:

Created On:

24 May 2007 9:46 AM

Back

Knowledgebase

Singapore Web Hosting Provider