Over time, as your website’s needs grow, you can add pages and content to your site. As your site becomes more complex and you add features like video, webinars, or expanded blogs, you may find that you need more security. If you are serious about the security of your shared server, you may benefit from upgrading to a dedicated server.
But what happens when you move servers? When the server changes, the name also changes. Each shared server can have a specific name. Here are a few things to check before moving on to make sure everything runs as smoothly as possible and how to fix the issues that may arise after moving the server.
To begin with, here are a few things that change when you move to a new server: a) Server name and b) DNS settings
a) Server Name
When your server is changed, its name also changes. Find the hostname of your web server and check your web server name. Below are some things you should check before the move to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible:
Make sure that when connecting to your domain via FTP/SFTP/SSH, you use your domain as the hostname. If your domain is example.com, you will enter exactly your hostname.
Do not include https:// in the URL.
b) DNS settings
Here are a few steps to configure DNS settings when moving servers.
- Please review emails sent after server migration. The new server is listed in the subject line.
- Update the IP address after server transfer. If your IP address continues to point to the old server’s IP address, the site will not work.
- See the DNS documentation on how to find the correct IP address for your site. If necessary, update your site’s correct IP address with your hosting company.
Post-migration troubleshooting
After completing the migration, you may notice that the site displays errors or stops responding as before. The following sections will help you identify the most common causes of this problem.
My site is not responding
It could be a DNS issue. The server has changed and the site’s IP address has changed. Where your current DNS host is, you need to point DNS to the new IP address. To fix this, see the DNS Settings section. If your site points to the new IP address correctly, you may see a “Site not found” error.
My email form or cron job is not working
It is possible to use your server name as part of your email address in a custom email or cron job. For example, you can use: [email protected]
In this example, `username’ is your FTP user and ‘servername’ is the name of your web server. If you use this method, be sure to update your name server that you use for email addresses.
My downloaded files are not showing up online
This may be because you are using an old server name as the FTP hostname. If you’re using something like server.bluehost.com as your hostname, you’ll want to replace it with your new server name (given to you in the subject line of the delivery email). It is best to use your own domain name. The domain name automatically makes the server valid regardless of where it has been moved.
My server key is incorrect
Since you will be moving to a new server, the SSH key will change as well. If the key from the old server is stored on your local computer, you should delete it. When you connect to a new server, it prompts you to save the new key.
Using Linux (OpenSSH)
The OpenSSH version of SSH provides a command-line option to remove the host key without any additional hassle. This is especially useful if you’re using SSH to connect to multiple hosts and you don’t want to manually edit the known_hosts file. At the command line, type:
ssh-keygen -R www.example.com
This will back up the ~/.ssh/known_hosts file and remove the old www.example.com key from the current Known_hosts.
Repeat as needed for each domain moved.
Conclusion
Hoping that you have understood how to fix issues while moving to a new server. In case you have any queries about this article, please share them in the comments section below.
