Check out this plan: 1. Load the stand-alone server with everything you need. but add a default.htm in the root directory that has a javascript re-direct to your original server farm. There is a set up in IIS that will trigger only the default.htm page. In that way all visitors will be going to the original site, and all variables, etc should work ok. The user will see that they are being re-directed, if that matters to them. If you are using Exchange mail, you should be able to auto-forward all mail to the new IP immediately, while waiting for the DNS to propagate.
2. When you are ready to move, and all files are uploaded to the stand-alone server. then you configure the primary server on the original site to trigger only the default.htm, and in that page place a simple javascript re-direct to the IP number of the stand-alone server (having changed the IIS settings on it to ignore the default.htm. file and trigger the index.cfm. This will send all visitors to the new site and when the DNS propagates, the changeover will be seamless. When the traffic on the original server reaches zero, then take it off-line. 3. There will be some down-time while you do a final synchronization of the generated files. 4. When you eventually move the other servers to the co-location facility, I can really see no way to integrate them back into operation without some down-time. The stand-alone box will have to be pretty strong (hopefully a GIG of RAM or better) to handle all three, the Web, mail, and the DB, but it will work. You should be able to test this scenario at your local installation before making any more, as long as you have an IP number to spare. I did something similar with a Win2k box, and it handled all three so well, I have left it on the single box, inspite of best practices advice. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brook Davies" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "CF-Server" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2002 1:57 PM Subject: Moving a CF web app to a new physical local Hello, We are faced with the task of moving our 3 server setup to a new co-location facility while avoiding any downtime. Let me tell you about our situation. We have 3 NT servers; mail,web and DB. We DO have one extra server which is essentially unused. The concern is really for ONE website on a single domain. I considered configuring the unused box with mail,CF, and the DB to serve as temporary server. I could then move this box to the new facility before making any DNS changes. I could then update the DNS to point to the new box. Once the DNS changes had thoroughly propagated, and all of the traffic was being directed to the single server, I could disconnect the other servers and move them as well and re configure. The problem with this scenario is Data Integrity and disparities between the DB and any generated files (and there are lots of those). The application is very write intensive, both to the DB and local drive on the webserver. I fear that since the DNS would not update at the same time for everybody, that some users would still be using the old box while other users are on the new box. Or a user would be on the old box one hour and then onto the new server the next time they log in, an hour later, and they would not see their latest changes. Then somehow syncing it up later may be impossible. So in short, I'm not sure that will work. I was thinking about somehow having the new server redirect traffic back to the original box until we are sure the DNS changed have thoroughly propagated. Then, we could safely allow the new single server to start handling all traffic. After some testing, I think this is the way to go. A redirect from IIS back to the orginal servers. But the problem here, from what I can tell, is that you can not pass form variables when using an IIS redirect!!! This is absolutely imperative for us, we need to pass form variables. Are there any work arounds for this with IIS> Any ideas? Brook Davies maracasmedia inc. ______________________________________________________________________ Structure your ColdFusion code with Fusebox. Get the official book at http://www.fusionauthority.com/bkinfo.cfm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with 'unsubscribe' in the body or visit the list page at www.houseoffusion.com
