What are the things that i have to be careful when i move to another host

[sangesh]

I have planned to switch my web host. Currently i am hosting my oscommerce host at one web host and i have decided to switch my host.

 

What are the things that i have to be careful of during this transfer process?

 

What are the safest ways to do the hosting transfer so that the online store does not get damaged?

 

Do I have to backup to database? If yes, how can this be done?

 

Do I have to backup all the files of my server in my local computer?

[Jack_mcs]

You should block your current site with an index.html page that says "Down for Maintenance" or something similar and rename the includes directory prior to the move. That will ensure no changes can be made to the database.

 

You should copy both the database and the files to your computer. That is needed for the transfer but will also serve as a backup.

 

Jack

[sangesh]

You should block your current site with an index.html page that says "Down for Maintenance" or something similar and rename the includes directory prior to the move. That will ensure no changes can be made to the database.

 

You should copy both the database and the files to your computer. That is needed for the transfer but will also serve as a backup.

 

Jack

 

 

Regarding, copying the database and files, do you mean that i have to copy each and every files and directories to my local computer?

 

another question that i have is, which is the safest way to transfer the website transfer?

1) automatic host to host transfer

or,

2) manual transfer, i.e., downloading the files to my local computer and then uploading to my new host

[DejaVu]

You will need to edit BOTH configure.php's for your new host especially if the database (MySQL) is on a different server.

 

I had to do this last week and the whole process only took about 20 minutes (Including uploading the whole system, products and database to PYPMy Admin!)

[Jack_mcs]

Regarding, copying the database and files, do you mean that i have to copy each and every files and directories to my local computer?

 

another question that i have is, which is the safest way to transfer the website transfer?

1) automatic host to host transfer

or,

2) manual transfer, i.e., downloading the files to my local computer and then uploading to my new host

Yes, you have to copy all of the files. If you can get host to host to work, that is a good way to go but it does not always work as advertised. You still need to block the site though since you have no control over the time it takes for the domain to transfer. You can skip this step if your site isn't doing business or you don't care if you lose data.

 

Jack

[sangesh]

Yes, you have to copy all of the files. If you can get host to host to work, that is a good way to go but it does not always work as advertised. You still need to block the site though since you have no control over the time it takes for the domain to transfer. You can skip this step if your site isn't doing business or you don't care if you lose data.

 

Jack

 

In the below case:

 

First I setup oscommerce in my new host and place an index.htm file in the root directory

 

how can i move the existing files and directory to my new host

 

1) how can i backup and import my database into my new host

2) how can i backup all the products and description

3) and the admin portion too

[Jack_mcs]

No, you place the blocking page on your live shop. Then go to admin->Tools and do a database backup (this won't work if your database is large). Then download all of the files to your computer and upload them to the new server. You will have to upload your database using the new hosts phpmyadmin program. Then set up your configure files and the shop should be functional.

 

Jack

[Avec]

I recently moved our site and here are some of the issues I had. I don't know if host specific (new or old) but they were issues. The move was made because site traffic increased to the point where it was becoming very problematic for customers. Old host was a budget, small site-type host. New host is supposed to be more commercial

 

1. FTPed all files to local. For a handful of files (18-20) the file names were flip-flopped between files. A very strange problem. So, basically contact_us.php would be renamed privacy.php and vice versa. Files themselves were not corrupted.

 

2. Had trouble re-installing database from backup. Ended up using a two stage approach whereby an empty database (database without any data, only tables and fields) was restored, then the data was populated. Admin panel had problems, so used PHPMyAdmin

 

3. New host had newer versions of mySQL, and I think PHP, so I had to update site to fix issues these things caused.

 

4. New host handles SSL a little differently and had some configure.php issues. To fix both I had to use actual paths in configure.php instead of virtual.

 

5. Since move there have been some reoccuring mail issues. This is not osCommerce related, but is a problem and I thought I would add it.

 

6. There has been some other oddities and quirks that we come across weekly, but nothing specific that I can think of off-hand.

[sangesh]

I recently moved our site and here are some of the issues I had. I don't know if host specific (new or old) but they were issues. The move was made because site traffic increased to the point where it was becoming very problematic for customers. Old host was a budget, small site-type host. New host is supposed to be more commercial

 

1. FTPed all files to local. For a handful of files (18-20) the file names were flip-flopped between files. A very strange problem. So, basically contact_us.php would be renamed privacy.php and vice versa. Files themselves were not corrupted.

 

2. Had trouble re-installing database from backup. Ended up using a two stage approach whereby an empty database (database without any data, only tables and fields) was restored, then the data was populated. Admin panel had problems, so used PHPMyAdmin

 

3. New host had newer versions of mySQL, and I think PHP, so I had to update site to fix issues these things caused.

 

4. New host handles SSL a little differently and had some configure.php issues. To fix both I had to use actual paths in configure.php instead of virtual.

 

5. Since move there have been some reoccuring mail issues. This is not osCommerce related, but is a problem and I thought I would add it.

 

6. There has been some other oddities and quirks that we come across weekly, but nothing specific that I can think of off-hand.

What about the product images? do i have to back up them do? and after i have moved to the new host? will the product images be relevent to the product details?

[Avec]

What about the product images? do i have to back up them do? and after i have moved to the new host? will the product images be relevent to the product details?

 

As long as they are in the images directory and it is defined in both configure.php files, there is no need to do anything with them other than FTP them over.

[sangesh]

As long as they are in the images directory and it is defined in both configure.php files, there is no need to do anything with them other than FTP them over.

So you mean that i have to only download the image directory and then upload it in the new host right

[Jack_mcs]

So you mean that i have to only download the image directory and then upload it in the new host right

It's been mentioned several times tha you have to copy all files. Is there a reason you don't want to do that or is it that you do not understand what that means?

 

Jack

[sangesh]

It's been mentioned several times tha you have to copy all files. Is there a reason you don't want to do that or is it that you do not understand what that means?

 

Jack

Ok,

Now I am going to do the following:

 

1) backup my current files of OsCommerce

2) setup oscommerce in my new host.

3) upload the database and replace files in the new host.

 

is there anything missing in the process ?