Switch your host without having any downtime

Tired of constant downtime and/or slow performance? Say Good-Bye to it!. More people are switching to HostBreak and becoming happy customers.

Switching to HostBreak is Simple, Easy, and Fun Learning experience for many of our customers.
 
There are just two steps:
 
  1. Signup for a Web Hosting account with HostBreak.
  2. Once your account is active, open a support ticket. Subject should be “Help transferring website to HostBreak”. Provide following information with your ticket:
    1. Provide FTP login/password at your old hosting provider.
    2. cPanel/Plesk login information.
    3. Login/password to your domain management (required for DNS change)
    4. That’s it! we will take care of the rest! You may now close this window.
 
For those, who like to do it themselves, here are detailed steps:
 
Switching to a new host can be a complicated process. Follow our steps to ensure that your move is smooth and painless:
 
  1. Your first step is to order a hosting account with new host. You should NOT cancel with your old hosting provider, and you shall NOT tell them that you are moving. Keeping it a secret helps, otherwise some hosts permanently terminate outgoing customers resulting in downtime.
  2. Now, you are ready with two hosting accounts (Old account and New account). Obtain a full working copy of your website. This includes; all databases, scripts, and other necessary files. You can do thus using FTP. Once you have the data, FTP it to your new hosting company. If you are choosing HostBreak, good news is that we may transfer your entire site over to our servers FREE of cost. Just open a support ticket after you signup.
  3. Take backup of any databases on the old host (contact your old host for instructions) and upload the backup files to the new host via FTP. You must then create this database at your new host and restore from backup files; this can be done via cPanel’s phpMyAdmin too. Microsoft SQL database can be users can do this using MyLittleAdmin.
  4. Emails do not normally transfer, but you can archive your emails from the old host. You can do this connecting to your POP3 account using Outlook and download all emails to your local computer. The new host will not have those old emails, but the new host will be able to get new emails.
  5. Once you have a copy of your website new hosting account, it is time to change DNS. You may need to contact the new host to find out what DNS settings you will use for your domain name.

    DNS name servers usually looks like this (replace "yourhostname.com" with your host's actual domain name):

    ns1.yourhostname.com
    ns2.yourhostname.com 

  6. Once you have the correct DNS, go to the company where you purchased your domain name to make the change. If you purchased your domain name from your host, you usually need to ask them to make the DNS changes for you.
  7. If you bought your domain name from HostBreak, we are more than happy to help you or even make the DNS changes for you.
  8. Once your DNS changes have been made, you will need to wait 48 hours (two days) before your site will load from the new host. During this 48 hour period, your DNS is propagating worldwide and your site will be randomly loading from either the old host or the new host. Once the two days time is complete, your site will only be loading from the new host.
  9. During DNS propagation period, you can test your website at new host using a temporary URL. If on HostBreak, see temporary URL here http://portal.hostbreak.com/knowledgebase/41/Temporary-URL-to-view-website-before-making-dns-changes.html
  10. After the 48 hours have passed, your updated DNS will be fully functional. You will now contact your old host and cancel your hosting account with them. If you originally bought your domain name from the old host, do NOT cancel your domain registration.
  11. If you completed all the above steps, you have successfully switched hosts with no downtime at all!
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