Moving Domains
 

I would like to move my primary domain from one company to another company and am concerned about minimizing the pain in this transfer.

Does it make sense to forward all email to a gmail account until the domain transfers OR is the transfer of domains pretty seamless?

My problem is I get a lot of email to my domain and I understand that once my domain migrates, I can't pick up email from my old domain.

Thanks

Are you keeping the same domain name and just changing registrars? Is your email hosted by your current registrar?

If you are just moving names, and your email is hosted elsewhere, then you will have anywhere from a 5 minute to 48 hour downtime...it mostly depends on the sending server if they obey the "time to live" attribute in the DNS records.

If your mail is hosted by your current registrar, you might want to check with them to see if they will allow you to continue to access it after the move. If not, find a 3rd party (like gmail, although one that supports IMAP would be better) and sync your messages to the 3rd party, then you can sync them to the new hosted server once its online.

Forwarding to gmail may help a bit, but more than likely the forwarding will stop as soon as the domain is transfered.

If you can give a little more info it would help.
-N

Actually, as long as you're not changing IP addresses, but only Registrars, you should have no downtime. Cached records will still point to the correct IP.

The issue would be if you don't run your own DNS servers, in which case you might have DNS lookups going to the old location for a bit. This can be solved by moving in stages...

1) Sign up for new service - move DNS hosting to the new registrar (provider) w/o moving the domain (yet).
2) change your current domain record to ADD the new DNS servers.
3) lower the timeout.
4) wait.
5) point everything at the new servers.
6) move the registration record (let the new registrar do this).

There is, however, a small advantage in letting things break for a few hours... you'll have a reduction in SPAM for a little while as the failed attempts usually drops you off spam lists. Anyone who cares will resend emails until they go through.

Years ago I started with doteasy to host my email because they were free, but I have outgrown them and started to create new domains at 1and1.

My plan is to move the original email account from doteasy to 1and1 - but yikes the 48 hours of downtime is pretty scary. Will emails simply bounce for the 48 hours - which would be okay because people would probably just resend them, but if the get lost in the bits and bytes of the internet that wouldn't be great.

I have tried to communicate with Doteasy, but I nobody is answering the emails - yikes. My plan is to do the cut over on the first weekend in August, but then again I might delay it awhile longer. ..

Work with the new service - they have an incentive. Also, if they don't work with you, you might want to reconsider the provider.

For whatever it's worth: Several friends who've tried 1and1 say to avoid it at all costs; no customer service.

So you're moving mail hosts. The swap here that is important is the change in DNS servers. This can take a couple days to propogate where some folks are getting the old data, and some the new. You will end up with email getting delivered to your original mailbox and your new one, so you will need to check both for a few days.

I did this recently so here's how it worked for me.

My former mail service was with a hosted IMAP provider. My registrar is Network Solutions. I signed up with 1 and 1, and set up an account to have them host my email. They had me change the DNS records at NetSol to point to the 1and1 DNS. After completing that, email began being delivered to my 1and1 mailboxes. My account was still live at the old hosting provider and I could (and still can) go there and get my messages. I migrated my saved email a bit at a time to ensure stability on the 1and1 platform and no hiccup with storage limits or server availability. Once everything is migrated, I will close my account with the old hosting service. At this point, they just don't get any more of my mail because the DNS has propogated throughout the internet and all mail is now being delivered to the 1and1 hosts.

I had no trouble with any of this, didn't require anyone from Customer Service and found that if I carefully followed the written directions from 1and1, everything worked perfectly.

Of course, YMMV.

Set up everything with the new host. Then, when the change occurs, it will be seamless. If you don't have everything ready on the new host you may have a gap.

[QUOTE=back seat;8064603]I would like to move my primary domain .../QUOTE]

A real tangent from the OP's question, but I am thinking of creating a website for my solo medical practice and am interested in suggestion or recommendations for a web hosting site. Will check out 1and1. This will be a very small venture...any other suggestions?

I have heard that, but I have been with 1and1 for about 4 years now and the few times I have had questions, 1and1 was able to help in a timely manner.

I will see if I can do this with doteasy.

Thanks

Most all the information here is good. I do this all the time for clients. The time required to propogate to all DNS servers will vary from 24 to 72 hours, causing most to make a move like this on a Friday, so mail will be normal by Monday. During this period, some mail may go through to the new address almost immediately, others not until DNS is fully propogated - it depends upon where they are sending from. Keeping the old mail address alive is good advice, so that mail sent with old addressing info will have someplace to go. You will need to collect that mail using the IP address rather than by name. The old account can be removed at the end of 72 hours.

Even if there is a 24-72hr propagation delay in DNS, most SMTP servers will simply keep retrying is they can't connect to a host so you wouldn't actually loose any email. It just might show up in the old email account. Try and keep both accounts open until the entire switch is completed.

The host I've been happily using for years is www.uplinkearth.com. They respond fast to customer service tickets, have flexible plans, and nice features. I have multiple domains on one plan.

Note: you can reduce the timeout value in your record in advance of the switch.

I think it depends on how much support and control you want from the registrar. I'm currently using: register.com, godaddy, 1&1, namecheap.com, and gandhi. From a price perspective register.com is the most expensive but I have always been impressed by their support -- on the first call I always reached someone very technically savvy. 1&1 is the cheapest and their packages are fine if you are not planning to host your own server. I run my own mail, domain, vpn, webhosting servers from home and I like namecheap the best - few $ more than 1&1 but a much easier and powerful control of your host records if you like to tweak stuff.

One other thing -- if you're going to hire someone else to design your webpages & stuff you can usually negotiate a package price with them to host your site. Nice to have a single point of contact in case things aren't working. Just make sure that -you- own the domain name and the rights to the html source.

I've found that most larger corporate networks do not obey the TTL and timeout values.

I just moved from enom (registerfly) to godaddy for a few domains...those are not being treated as spam by some fortune 100 companies... Basically since the smtp dropped and then changed within a 72 hour period apparently that means I'm a spambot.

Better change your name SpaceBot. :D

I have found that having an SPF record in my DNS has helped to not be labeled a spam bot. Larger companies tend to pay attention to SPF reords. Please don't confuse the true SPF with Microsoft's version which simply confuses things. I would recommend that everyone setup SPF records. It has cut down considerably on spam, and my domains being tagged as spam bots.

BTW, I host most of my domains through HE.net but do have one godaddy domain. I much prefer HE.net as their servers seem faster and I have much more granular control over my domain/virtual host setup.

When I added SPF txt records I found that it helped with about half the sites that didn't like my little outpost server on the outer rim. I still have to forward a few outbound domains through my ISP. I suspect I'm getting tagged through the reverse DNS lookup which doesn't look much like me or my ISP.

Ok a quick question here.

The web hosting company for our church is about to go under (illness). I have all the webfiles backed up and am ready to shift to dreamhost - probably today.

If the other site goes down in the 24-72 hr transfer period, does that mean we have no web presence during that time?

What about email?

Our registrant and webhost are 2 different companies. Our registration is locked (donated to us) and we don't want to shift that - just the website.

I am reading the wiki's from dreamhost but am a bit confused... any suggestions on how to do this as painlessly as possible?

Every move is different, but the last time I moved a domain it was as painless as could be.

I made sure the site was correctly configured at dreamhost, then changed the DNS entries at Godaddy. 20 minutes later the Dreamhost site was live, and 1and1 was gone.

A quick tip: put some kind of text on the new hosters pages so you know which hoster you are hitting.

Thankfully DNS propogation is much quicker nowadays. I remember having to wait 4 days for a domain to be live, nowadays with Godaddy it's ready in under half an hour.

To add to what ScottC said... Get the site on the new hosting company working the way you want it to. You'll have to test the web side using an IP address and then have your registrar switch to the new hosting company IP address.

I've seen this with my domains as well. Some people get SPF confused with Microsoft's Sender ID and then SPF won't work correctly. You need to test your domain name(s) to make sure that your ISP has everything configured correctly. If not you need to pressure them to get it right. Often the reverse DNS is mucked up and because of that you are label a spammer and your email is rejected.

It amazes me how many "email experts" in companys have no idea how DNS really works and how MX, text and other records impact email.

This was exactly my experience when I moved to Dreamhost (thanks, Scott, for recommending them -- they've been terrific). I think my email and website were up and running on Dreamhost in 5 to 10 minutes. Godaddy seems very good about propagating domain changes through the DNS system.

I appreciate what ScottC and Ptravel have said about GoDaddy service, but please note that GoDaddy cannot control DNS propogation, though they can certainly aid it by handling changes properly and in a timely manner. While you may see your website almost immediately, this does not mean that a customer across the planet or even in the same town with a different ISP will see it on the first or even second day after a change.

GoDaddy can't control DNS servers out of their control, but I was under the impression that their physical location within the internet and their means of connecting to it will influence DNS propagation.

That's controlled by the OLD DNS record + settings at individual providers settings. The only thing that'd be faster is servers under their control.

Thank you all for the guidance and recommendations.

We propogated our site last night. Email was down for only ~ 20 minutes, the site itself went offline at 7:30 p.m. and was up when I got up at 7 a.m. today.

Seamless from beginning to end.

Thank you for recommending dreamhost.