On Thu, Jul 22, 2004 at 10:39:05AM +1000, Peter Hardy wrote: > On 07/22/04 10:18, Mary Gardiner wrote: > > b) set up a second server on a different IP address and update the > > nameservers. (Not all clients will notice immediately because DNS can > > be cached.) > > It's probably worth pointing out that it's not uncommon for DNS servers > to have fairly long caching periods. My domains usually have a TTL (time > to live) of 24-48 hours. This is because DNS records are mostly static. > > I've seen hosting providers set TTLs of a week, which seems to me a > fairly underhanded attempt to minimise churn.
When you're planning on moving, get the DNS moved to your cooperative provider first. You don't even have to tell the hosting provider your doing it, unless you've foolishly got the domain registered in their name. Just get the registry key for the domain, throw the domain on some new (short TTL) DNS servers, and then tell the registrar to delegate to your new servers (which, at first, just carry a copy of the DNS data as provided by your hosting provider's DNS, but with a very short TTL). When you've got your new website at the new host ready, just change the DNS over. Give it a few days, and then cancel the contract with your old hosting provider. It's still going to take time to do, but I wouldn't particularly want to rush those sorts of things even if the old provider had 60 second TTLs. It's also tricky if you've got live databases and whatnot at the provider, but a few hours of "this site is currently under maintenance, please go away" in the wee hours while you move the dynamic data around shouldn't be too much of a killer, unless you're big -- in which case, there are other (costlier) ways to solve the problem. - Matt -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
