Textpattern CMS support forum
You are not logged in. Register | Login | Help
- Topics: Active | Unanswered
Pages: 1
Switching Hosts Seamlessly
I just want to pass this by some other folks before I do this:
I am making the move from Dreamhost to MediaTemple this week.
I will leave the Domain name registration with Dreamhost until it is closer to expiring.
I already moved minismith, thinking I knew what I was doing :), and found some issues with MX records and DNS namechanges taking longer than it looked like… etc.
So here is my revised plan, and I’m hoping for some feedback about my strategy.
- Set up Site with all physical files at MediaTemple (including the creation of what they call a DNS zone)
- Make a mysql dump from the dreamhost db
- Create a new db at MediaTemple and import the dump from the Dreamhost db.
- Change the /textpatter/config.php file at the dreamhost and the MediaTemple sites to point to the new MediaTemple db so that any new changes written during the DNS switch will be made to the new db.
- Set up identical email addresses at MediaTemple as those at Dreamhost
- Make sure the DNS records at for the domain all list me as admin or tech? not so clear on this one
- Change the nameservers
- Wait.
Previous Issues:
The last time I did this, there were two deboccles. The first was that the MX records didn’t seem to make a smooth transition and my wife’s (yes I experimented with her’s first – and I don’t recommend this :) email is getting 550 errors for folks trying to send her email (the user doesn’t exist), and yet the user does exist at MediaTemple?…
Also, noting that the change seemed to be in effect with (moved to MediaTemple servers) the whois lookups, I let Amy do another blog at minismith, which proved to be the wrong choice when late yesterday her whole post (long one) was gone. And since the host for her db at dreamhost had been set up as minismith.minismith.com, I don’t currently have access to that post. I’ve asked dreamhost for the dump, but haven’t heard back yet.
SO, any thoughts :)
Matthew
- I am Squared Eye and I
am launchinghave launched Pattern Tap
Offline
Re: Switching Hosts Seamlessly
RE: mail accounts.
For a limited amount of accounts I go a pragmatic route:
- setup a redirection to an web based email service (gmail, Y! mail, whatever) prior to switching DNS. So for a small period all mail is readable at the web mial provider
- let the switch occur (takes a few days at most), redirection from no. 1 will be without further effect as mails are not delivered to the old host any longer.
- return to old mail fetching behaviour (desktop e-mail client)
Offline
Re: Switching Hosts Seamlessly
I’d separate the move in DNS servers from moving the website to a new server (if you want to do both):
Switching DNS servers:- change DNS servers (and NS records), but keep the A and MX records the same, so no matter which DNS is used, it points to the same location for email and website.
- wait 48 hours or as long as the TTL of the NS records is set (whichever is longer), to allow the root servers and other DNS servers to pick up the changes.
- change the TTL of the MX and A records to a low value (like 5 minutes)
- wait as long as the old TTL for the MX and A records was set (12 hours in your case)
- change the MX and A records to point to the new hosting server
- after 5 minutes everyone should now have fresh DNS info for your website.
- change the TTL back to 12 hours (or whatever value you like)
Last edited by ruud (2007-03-05 10:21:22)
Offline
Re: Switching Hosts Seamlessly
I’ll second the idea of forwarding email accounts to Gmail or something similar during the transition. It seems to most foolproof way to avoid losing email, plus I’ve found folks aren’t quite so inclined to go back to Outlook or OE after using a decent webmail service.
As for the database transfer, I recently moved a client site with two Txp installs, and didn’t even consider keeping the database updated during the transition. I simply froze the site on Friday night before making the switch.
And I was very pleased at how easy it was to [1] use rss_admin_db_manager to export the database at the old host, [2] place the backup.sql file in the same /files/ directory at the new host that it was in at the old host, and [3] install rss_pluginstaller and then rss_admin_db_manager at the new host, at which point rss_admin_db_manager finds that backup.sql and offers you the chance to import it. Bingo Bango, back in business (assuming you’ve already done the step you mentioned of getting all the static files and graphics in place)
All you have to do at that point is go into your preferences and alter paths to conform to your new host. I expected to lose a lot more hair in the process than I actually did.
TextPattern user since 04/04/04
Offline
Re: Switching Hosts Seamlessly
Reid, Ruud, Wet,
Thanks for the thorough feedback. I can see value in either of these methods.
If its me or Amy or a friend, I can see using gmail.
If its a client? Hmm. Don’t know about that? It seems unprofessional to me? However, I have NO idea how to do what you suggested (Ruud), as I cannot find any information about MediaTemple’s mx records/servers, and I don’t know what an “A” server is :). I can design and keep up with the pack, but when it comes to some of this server technology, I’m trying to hang out with the folks that are better than me and see if I can learn something along the way :)
Reid, good thought on using rss db manager.
I’ve got a ticket into MT, asking for guidance per Ruud’s thoughts above, and if that’s not something they support, which would surprise me, then I’ll be more drawn toward the webmail option.
- I am Squared Eye and I
am launchinghave launched Pattern Tap
Offline
Re: Switching Hosts Seamlessly
ma_smith wrote:
If its a client? Hmm. Don’t know about that? It seems unprofessional to me?
Then here’s another alternative, dependent on how things work at your new host. When you’re setting up new email users at an “untransferred” domain, what you’re actually setting up in many cases is an account at “username@server.new-host.com,” not “username@domain.com.”
So you can set up the accounts at the new host, and then set the email accounts at the old host to forward there, e.g., username@domain.com is forwarded to “username@server.new-host.com.” Have your clients reconfigure their email app to check mail using the new host and username@server.new-host.com, and they should lose no mail while still being able to use their preferred application.
TextPattern user since 04/04/04
Offline
Re: Switching Hosts Seamlessly
Matthew,
Are you by chance moving to the new GridServer at MT? If so, just a fair bit of warning for you……I (as well as a fellow designer friend of mine) have had to now move 7 different sites off of the GridServer at MT. All due to either being extremely slow or totally down for hours and even days at a time. MT assures us that they are working on it, etc., etc. It never from day 1 got any better.
All 7 of those sites were on TXP 4.0.4. We have both now moved to a new hosting provider, a total of 19 websites between us both.
I hope that you do not run into the same problems as this. Good luck with it, I just wanted to share some warning with you.
Last edited by DigitalRealm (2007-03-05 16:03:57)
Offline
Re: Switching Hosts Seamlessly
Slightly off topic, but I the take chance to appease a tickling curiosity of mine: WebFaction experiences, anyone? They look very geeky, which appeals to me.
Offline
Re: Switching Hosts Seamlessly
ma_smith wrote:
However, I have NO idea how to do what you suggested (Ruud), as I cannot find any information about MediaTemple’s mx records/servers, and I don’t know what an “A” server is :).
To be able to do as I suggest, you’d need to have control over the DNS records for your own domain. Registrars like Gandi.net offer a very nice web-interface to do this for domains registered there. How to do it at Mediatemple is described here
About the A/MX/NS records:- A record: indicates at which IPnr your domain is hosted (the IPnr of the server that hosts your website)
- MX record: indicates the hostname of the server that handles mail for your domain.
- NS record: indicates which DNS servers are responsible for giving authoritive DNS information about your domain name.
The TTL is the TimeToLive, the number of seconds that a DNS query is valid. Once that time has passed, a client (browser, computer or other DNS server) has to ask the authoritive DNS again for up-to-date information. Keeping the TTL low during migrations makes it possible to switch very fast between two locations with only minimal time during which people can be visiting both locations.
As far as email is concerned… if the old mail server stops accepting mail for you domain, then it will be queued up to 5 days (typically) on the sending mail server, so if the new mail server is reachable within a few days, no mail gets lost.
Offline
Re: Switching Hosts Seamlessly
Ruud,
Thank you :)> That’s exactly what I needed.
In my case, I am still hosting the domain name at dreamhost and have access to making custom mx records there, but I have yet to be able to figure out where to point them at media temple? Is it simply (10 mail.minismith.com)?
If I do an MX lookup I get:
Preference: 10 (what’s this?)
Host Name:mail.minismith.com (is this my mx record host?)
IP address: (don’t know if its wise to post it here?)
TTL 43200 (which is seconds I see :)
Thx for the learning curve.
Matthew
- I am Squared Eye and I
am launchinghave launched Pattern Tap
Offline
Re: Switching Hosts Seamlessly
ps. Reid. Interesting thought there
- I am Squared Eye and I
am launchinghave launched Pattern Tap
Offline
Re: Switching Hosts Seamlessly
If you have more than one MX (server that handles email) for you domain, the preference/priority indicates which mail server is tried first (lowest priority MX is tried first). The MXs with higher priorities are used if the lowest priority MX does not respond or cannot accept email. It’s probably easiest to think of it as the backup MX.
Yes, mail.minismith.com is your MX for the minismith.com domain.
There’s an A record for mail.minismith.com which contains the IPnr for mail.minismith.com. In this case it happens to be the same IPnr that is also used for minismith.com and www.minismith.com and whatever.minismith.com. The IPnr is easy to lookup. If that weren’t the case, it would be difficult to send you email or visit your website ;)
If mail for your domain is handled on the same server that hosts your website for that domain, then you can set the MX hostname to minismith.com (or mail.minismith.com if that points to the same IPnr)
Offline
Pages: 1