How to move domains to another host?

January 27, 2010 5:31 AM

What are the steps involved in moving registered domains to another host? I'd like to move a number of domains from 1&1 to WebFaction so I can run Django apps easily. An extra wrinkle is that one of the domains needs to be assigned/given to another person who will do with it what they will.

Are there forms to fill out? What sort of identification should I get ready?

I've looked at the 1&1 documentation but it is pretty opaque. If anyone had a few point-form items to get me going that would be great. I'm fairly computer-savvy but outside of standalone app programming my skills kind of fall down.

posted by chrillsicka to computers & internet (3 answers total)

You're not moving domain names, you're moving web hosts. Different.

(1) Set up copies of the sites on the new server first, and refer to/address them by IP number or some temporary name like mysitename.1and1.com.

(2) Configure the new host to respond to both mysitename.1and1.com and www.mysite.com, even though requests for the latter never really get there.

(3) Change the existing DNS records, wherever they are, so www.mysite.com points to the new place.

(4) Done.

Now, if you ALSO want to move the domains themselves (the registrations) later, you can, but it's more of an unrelated bookkeeping issue. And I'd do it later, because otherwise you're just asking for confusion and downtime.
posted by rokusan at 6:38 AM on January 27, 2010 [2 favorites]

It really depends where you registered the domain. If you registered them at some external registrar (like Network Solutions, or GoDaddy), you should just be able to sign up for a new hosting account for your domain at WebFaction, find the DNS server information in their welcome e-mail, then visit the site where you registered the domain, log in, and input the DNS server info. Simple as that.

Now, if you registered the domain names through your old host, 1&1, and the domains are administrated by them, it might be a bit more complicated to get them to transfer them over to another registrar.
posted by Vorteks at 12:51 PM on January 27, 2010

Sorry, I mixed up new and old hosts in my answer. My fake suggested temporary name for the copy of the site at the new host should have been mysitename.webfaction.com.
posted by rokusan at 4:20 PM on January 27, 2010