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In this article we discuss on how to migrate to a new web hosting account without downtime. Complete discussion about it follows under.
In the early days of internet, it was limited only to the computer experts, universities and government institutions. But with the technological development and craze, web usage has become more common. It started to change the world and the accessibility to the services that the customer wants. Every company started to reach to their consumers via internet by putting information about their product/services, achievements etc. on their websites.
Now a day, having an own website is an essential thing in the competitive business world. So, every product seller started their own websites. But, managing the websites has become a challenge. To overcome this problem, there came many companies who exclusively concentrate on hosting and managing the websites. This service has widely been known as ‘web hosting’.
What is Web Hosting?
In simple terms, web hosting is a service by which the website being made available over internet 24/7. Generally, the companies which are offering the web hosting services allocate several web resources including the server space and customer can put all their information on the server system. The information stored by the clients is known as ‘database.’
This database will be stored on the hosting server and will be made available for access over internet. A web hosting account includes many additional features like eCommerce, Customer Relation Management tools, Search Engine Optimization resources, free templates etc.
Migrating From Existing Server To A New One
Web hosting customers need good support from the hosting companies in areas like uploading/downloading, speed of access, web recovery, web security etc. Clients expect fast and reliable support on these critical issues. But, when the hosting company fails or offers inefficient support, this would force the clients to migrate to a new web hosting account. Alternatively, when a web hosting company offers more features at a lesser price, this can also trigger the migration. Likewise, there are many reasons for the customers to shift from one hosting company to another. But migration is not a simple thing to done away with ease. During the migration, website must be taken offline. That means a loss of business for the commercial websites or loss of readership for general or personal websites. Data might get affected or corrupted during migration for various technical glitches. Some of the features that were working on previous server might not work on the new server. Thus there are many hurdles in migrating a website.
How To Migrate Website Without Downtime
The best way to overcome these difficulties is a smooth migration from the existing hosting service to a new one. The old one should not be deactivated until new service stared because cancelling the existing web hosting account will make it tough to ensure the transition.
Steps to migrate
There are few simple steps to change the web hosting over the new one. First of all, all the files that are already stored on the server have to be downloaded and this can be done with the help of publishing software. Then the new web company has to be selected.
Secondly upload the files into the new server system. All the databases are to be reconstructed without data loss. Now, all the files and databases are to be imported in to the new server. All the installed applications are to be given the modified path so as to be accessed readily. The DNS files need to be edited and the domain to be pointed to Name Servers. This completes the process of changing to the new web hosting.
But, identical email accounts for all the employees of the organizations have to be created to get in communication. Finally, the alternate URL obtained should be checked for functionality of the web. This finalizes and assures that everything is fine.
The most important thing to be remembered is that changing of the name of server details. Once this step finished, it will take at least 24 to 48 hours to incorporate the changes. During the transition time, some people will see the website via old web hosting account and some visitors will see the new one. In a day or two the website will coming up correctly as required. By doing this, website owners can avoid the downtime even during the migration period.
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