Moving webhost

[Alanmelon]

Having been using i-web solutions for my site hosting over the past few years, I am now so hacked off with their complete lack of support or response to any communication, that I'm looking at taking my business elsewhere. I therefore have a few questions;

- I've seen 1&1 rated by a few people in another thread, and they seem my preferred choice at the mo. Any horror stories?

- How difficult/easy is it to move hosts? I've thought it through...is there anything missing from the following checklist?
1. Backup/download all content and MySQL databases from existing server
2. Change nameserver settings on domain name accounts and wait for propagation
3. Set up domain names/accounts on new host
4. Recreate MySQL databases
5. Upload content
6. Reconfigure php config files in case of new MySQL database or usernames
7. Recreate e-mail accounts

Anything critical missed?

[Rob]

I'd probably want to replace the current hosted website with a redirect or other holding page. DNS can take a while to propogate. You don't want two different sets of web sites running simultaneously with people making entries on both.

[Steve-o||[^]]

change DNS last so that you don't loses mail during the switch since the mailboxes wouldn't be there yet

A redirect will only work if you are redirecting it to another domain name, that's already propagated - if you redirect example.com (current hosting) to example.com (new hosting) users attached to slow DNS servers will still be connecting to the current hosting. A holding page with a forced 503 status would be my choice.


Unless they've changed their setup, you won't get a non-web accessible directory (on shared hosting). Yeah you can set up your domains in their own dir, but if you were to have someone browse to the IP they can basically access everything you have...HTAccess files get tricky if you;

Order deny,allow
Deny from all

in the doc_root.
You also can't connect to external SQL servers, or use a local dev setup to access the 1&1 SQL server.

[Mr_love_monkey]

Wish I could do that.

I've had to start a new account with a different provider now, and all my new customers go to that, but all my existing customers are stuck on the iweb servers, as moving them all is going to be a nightmare - though at this rate I'm not going to have to worry since they're all going to leave anyway, because anything other than basic support I can't do, because I get no response from iweb for any ticket I raise - I've had a 'high' ticket raised since the 28th of November that no one has even looked at.

[Knobbly]

Adam has also changed his mobile number and you won't get a response via email to either admin@ or adam@ now. I'd advise everyone to move their site's away as soon as possible before they go boobs up.

[dragon]

Originally Posted by Alanmelon

Having been using i-web solutions for my site hosting over the past few years, I am now so hacked off with their complete lack of support or response to any communication, that I'm looking at taking my business elsewhere. I therefore have a few questions;

- I've seen 1&1 rated by a few people in another thread, and they seem my preferred choice at the mo. Any horror stories?

- How difficult/easy is it to move hosts? I've thought it through...is there anything missing from the following checklist?
1. Backup/download all content and MySQL databases from existing server
2. Change nameserver settings on domain name accounts and wait for propagation
3. Set up domain names/accounts on new host
4. Recreate MySQL databases
5. Upload content
6. Reconfigure php config files in case of new MySQL database or usernames
7. Recreate e-mail accounts

Anything critical missed?

If both hosts run Cpanel and the new host's support team is willing to attempt it for you.

1. Contact New hosts support and give them your Cpanel username/password and domain.

2. Wait for confirmation and then change dns.

Webhost manager (the admin backend to cpanel) has a script for transferring accounts between servers

although It does have this to say.

Enter an account to copy
This feature should only be used as a last resort when the root password to the remote server is unattainable. Many factors contribute to the lack of success of transfers. If the remote server does not have a working copy of perl, have cgi enabled, and have an unmodified cPanel configuration, this will most likely fail. A remote server administrator can easily prevent this type of transfer from occurring as it requires no privileged access. Accounts over 250 megabytes should not be transferred using this method.

If they are willing to try it and it works it would save you a fair bit of hasstle.

If not do a full account backup from cpanel and ask them if they'd be able to restore it for you if the same username is available it will make things a hell of a lot easier

[Matt D]

Anyone have any idea what's up with i-Web then?

As well as the comments here, their forums have various people complaining about the (lack of) support, plus now UK2 has gone down.

I'd be tempted to go elsewhere, but haven't yet found anywhere as cheap.

1&1 only do MYSQL databases on their business packages, & 123reg don't do them at all. Any others?

[dragon]

Depends on what you want and how important the support/uptime is to you.
If they're not Paramount I may be able to help but if you need guaranteed uptime/support then you need a proper host.

Lots of Hosts out there suggest you pay a visit to http://webhostingtalk.com

[Tricky]

Watching this thread with interest ...
As a member of I-Web since day 1 I am also seeing a lack of support and questions being answer. My customers cannot accept this.

What really hacks me off is the number of accounts I've passed their way since they started - probably not as much from this site but enough to expect better service.

[Mr_love_monkey]

well, I think for me, the time has come to go it alone.. just can't carry on with this kind of service

[Tricky]

Anyone used eUKHost their prices are cheaper and services seem OK
To Late I signed up!

http://www.eukhost.com/affiliate/ide...ate.php?id=524

[dragon]

Originally Posted by Mr_love_monkey

well, I think for me, the time has come to go it alone.. just can't carry on with this kind of service

http://www.nocster.com/sale.shtml Nocster/Burst are doing some cracking prices on servers atm.

[Stuart W]

<self promoting spam>

I am starting up a webhost company, and will be offering cPanel based hosting at VERY competative prices.

If your existing accounts are cPanel accounts, you could set your cPbackup to go straight to my server, then I could import your accounts keeping all your cust's settings intact.
I'm also a bit nifty with updating DNS entries to force the worlds DNS servers to provide the new details.

PM me if you have any questions.

</self promoting spam>

cPanel has some nice backup features, including the ability to back up entire accounts WITH all their settings.
This backup can remain on your cPanel box, or be FTP transfered to another server.

If you have full backups of your customers sites, simply change the index page on each homepage to a "DNS updating" notice on the old box, then restore the backups onto a new cPanel box

HTH

[Raistlin]

Yup, another one here looking to escape i-Web, not looking good for them at the moment.

I don't need anything fancy in the way of hosting, I just need to be able to move my email accounts etc across. There's nothing in the way of content that I can't replicate.

How easy is it all to do though? Is it as easy as telling my new host what my domain name is and then pointing the DNS at their servers? How do I go about changing the DNS entries, I really haven't got a clue on that one.....

---------- Post added at 16:55 ---------- Previous post was at 16:42 ----------

Just looked at 1&1 and it appears that they don't do a database with their 'home' package. I need a database ideally as I have a photogallery that I share with friends an family which relies on a database.

Can't remember what database I have with i-Web (it's a linux hosting package so I'm guessing MySQL), but I could do with retaining that functionality.

[dragon]

Originally Posted by Stuart W

<self promoting spam>

I am starting up a webhost company, and will be offering cPanel based hosting at VERY competative prices.

If your existing accounts are cPanel accounts, you could set your cPbackup to go straight to my server, then I could import your accounts keeping all your cust's settings intact.
I'm also a bit nifty with updating DNS entries to force the worlds DNS servers to provide the new details.

PM me if you have any questions.

</self promoting spam>

cPanel has some nice backup features, including the ability to back up entire accounts WITH all their settings.
This backup can remain on your cPanel box, or be FTP transfered to another server.

If you have full backups of your customers sites, simply change the index page on each homepage to a "DNS updating" notice on the old box, then restore the backups onto a new cPanel box

HTH

http://grscripts.com

Yes it costs $20, YES its worth it Its just on another level entirely to cpanels builtin spam filtering...

(theres also ASSPX, which is a free frontend but I don't think its as friendly to the end user)

http://www.configserver.com/cp/csf.html
firewall and Bruteforce protection, and the price is right.

P.s you can copy accounts in using WHM using the Users login if the other host doesn't block it.


@Raistlin you want to login to your domain registrar (that will be the company you bought the domain from) and in the control panel there should be an option somewhere to change the dns nameservers, you use this option to set them to whatever your new host tells you to set them to.