Moving Hosts

[MattoCrim]

Hi,

I have a current website up and running but it is costing a fortune in hosting fees.
I am contemplating using my own server to host my own web site.
I have contacted my current host and they have granted me access to my Apache web server files held on their server var folder

My main two questions (if someone can answer them) are:
1, Is it just a case of moving files from var folder (host webserver) to var fiolder (my server) using a ftp?

2, Would all of my services i.e. e-mail, contact forms user passwords, need tweeking or does the var folder hold all info for how my server should handle theses?

Thanks in advance.


Matt.

[Irithori]

1) no
2) no

If you also move your domain(s) away from the old provider,
you need to find a new home for them first and start the migration process.

At the very least, you have to:
- point DNS for all your daemons to the new server(s)
- setup the environment: same technology, same version, same features, same config, etc
- copy the files, review the permissions

[MattoCrim]

I have the domain name registered to me at my location.
The outside company just hosted the web site.
I have all of the credentials i.e.
Apache 2.0.54-5
MySQL 4.0.24
Expression Engine Software 1.6.1
and the file location of the main folder within Apache
So mimicing their "environment" wont be an issue.

Unfortunately I think I may be a little inexperienced to attempt coding to repoint DNS

Thanks

[Irithori]

DNS is actually the easy part.

I would suggest to prepare the new server
- environment (apache, mysql, mail, etc)
- get a db dump from the old system
- get the files from the old system
- get the config from the old system
and run tests on a temporary hostname (temporary.<somedomain>.<sometld>)

If your website looks good,
drop the temporary DB,
import a fresh DB dump,
configure the new host to serve www.<somedomain>.<sometld>
and set the dns to point to the new IPs


But the devil is in the detail,
I would guess there are a few obstacles with the environment to overcome in that migration process.
Probably it makes sense to get the help of a unix sysadmin here, and if only temporary.