How do I move an existing Web site?

  1. If you don't have a copy of your Welcome email and are a Master Administrator or Domain Administrator, you should resend it to yourself and have a copy available. Click the Menu Map → Help Center → View → Account Welcome Letter (when logged in), then click the Send Welcome Message button to resend the Welcome email. This letter includes the information you will need for the following steps.
  2. The main thing to remember about moving a domain that's currently in use is that you must completely mirror your Web site, email boxes and (if applicable) custom DNS settings (if needed) before requesting that your domain registrar change the hostnames.
    If your domain is being used for an existing Web site and email boxes, the time frame for the propagation to occur could be up to 72 hours or as short as a couple of hours. By replicating all your services on XO Communications LLC servers, you remove the risk of your site not being available during that window.
  3. There are four basic steps to moving an existing domain that is in use after your Web Hosting account is created. Please use this as a checklist for your own situation:
    1. Publish your Web site
      Even though your domain and Web site are hosted at another provider, you must publish all site content on your Web Hosting site to have it ready. Note that Web Hosting provides a convenient work-around for publishing your site — which can be used with FTP programs or other publishing software — because using your domain name won't resolve to our servers.

      When asked for your domain to publish to via FTP; instead of entering [domain_name] enter ftp.cnchost.com and log in with [user_name]@[domain_name]

    2. Create all emailboxes
      If you are going to use the XO Web Site Hosting email service, then you must create an emailbox for every user in your domain. Refer to the Adding Users FAQs for creating new users.

    3. Create Custom DNS records (If applicable)
      If you're hosting your own Web, email or FTP server, or using another provider for those services, then you must customize your DNS records appropriately. You can use DNS Manager for this.

    4. Move your domain to XO Web Site Hosting
      Now that you have mirrored your services completely, you are ready to move your domain to XO Web Site Hosting. Simply contact your current registrar and request that they change the hostnames (also called nameservers) and IP addresses to the following:

      Approximately 72 hours from the time that your current registrar updates the Internet root (GTLD) servers, all ISPs should have caught the update, and will be directing traffic to XO Web Site Hosting.

    Nameservers
    Primary ns1.cnchost.com
    Secondary ns2.cnchost.com
  4. Cancel your previous service. After about 7 days of successful service after moving the domain, it should be OK for you to close your account with your previous ISP. Make sure you request they delete the zone files for your domain so their nameservers no longer broadcast to the Internet that they host your domain.

Last Modified: 06/09/2009 12:39:56

   

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