How to change an Email Host?

[Skip Miller]

Right now, I have a small business that has its email hosted through GoDaddy. The good news... the business is showing strong signs of gaining altitude rapidly. The bad news... GoDaddy just won't cut it. I have had too many email outages that the tech reps say "yes, it is a known problem and we are working on it..." but with no time for repairs to be made.

Can't run a business that way.

How do I go about transporting my domain name to an alternate host? And who would you recommend?

-Skip

 

[CedricW21]

I have good experiences with 1 and 1 (www.1and1.com) - about $10/month for multiple domains, lots of webspace, and lots of email (room to grow). If you create an account, then put your domain name in their search tool, it will let you know that the domain is registered, and gives you a link "I own this domain and want to move it here." Haven't had to use that, but everything else I've used there works well.

I used to suggest EV1 (now www.theplanet.com), but when they sold out to SCO, I stopped. I haven't heard anything negative about them since the merger, but won't go near them. YMMV

Good luck either way. How a company handles a domain transfer is on of the best metrics of quality out there. Expect at least 24 hours of confusion as the address change propagates through the name servers around the world.

--Cedric

 

[jason]

I have good experiences with 1 and 1 (www.1and1.com) - about $10/month for multiple domains, lots of webspace, and lots of email (room to grow). If you create an account, then put your domain name in their search tool, it will let you know that the domain is registered, and gives you a link "I own this domain and want to move it here." Haven't had to use that, but everything else I've used there works well.

I used to suggest EV1 (now www.theplanet.com), but when they sold out to SCO, I stopped. I haven't heard anything negative about them since the merger, but won't go near them. YMMV

Good luck either way. How a company handles a domain transfer is on of the best metrics of quality out there. Expect at least 24 hours of confusion as the address change propagates through the name servers around the world.

--Cedric

EV1 didn't merge with SCO, they simply fell prey to SCO's extortion. They paid the fictitious Linux licensing fee in order to protect their business and their customers. Stupid, yes...but, as I said, they were just trying to protect their business. It probably saved them from a frivolous lawsuit.

 

[CedricW21]

EV1 didn't merge with SCO, they simply fell prey to SCO's extortion.

Sorry - yes. In trying not to drown Skip in my vitriol about the case, I didn't make clear that the extortion and the merger were two separate things (or was it mergers? I lost track). Seems most folks that I know fall into two categories - those that read Groklaw - and those that threaten me if I mention it.

--Cedric

 

[Henning]

Right now, I have a small business that has its email hosted through GoDaddy. The good news... the business is showing strong signs of gaining altitude rapidly. The bad news... GoDaddy just won't cut it. I have had too many email outages that the tech reps say "yes, it is a known problem and we are working on it..." but with no time for repairs to be made.

Can't run a business that way.

How do I go about transporting my domain name to an alternate host? And who would you recommend?

-Skip

Yahoo? They do well for me and I've never been down, but I'm no expert. They give me service that I need at a reasonable price.

 

[mikea]

I have good experiences with 1 and 1 (www.1and1.com) - about $10/month for multiple domains, lots of webspace, and lots of email (room to grow). If you create an account, then put your domain name in their search tool, it will let you know that the domain is registered, and gives you a link "I own this domain and want to move it here." Haven't had to use that, but everything else I've used there works well.

I used to suggest EV1 (now www.theplanet.com), but when they sold out to SCO, I stopped. I haven't heard anything negative about them since the merger, but won't go near them. YMMV

Good luck either way. How a company handles a domain transfer is on of the best metrics of quality out there. Expect at least 24 hours of confusion as the address change propagates through the name servers around the world.

--Cedric

There are many stories about 1and1 being impossible to contact and charging for hosting after the account is cancelled. They're in the U.K. I'm using them for domains because the pricing is better than GoDaddy and they include privacy, but I wouldn't host there.

We're switching to media temple. http://www.mediatemple.net The Grid Server is a clustered Linux system that is porported to be incapable of being overloaded. As long as the apps you want to run are supported it's a good choice. They have the usual Apache, PHP, MySQL, Ruby, perl, ... and specifically support apps like Wordpress and Drupal.
http://www.mediatemple.net/webhosting/gs/faq/grid_compatible_applications-faq.htm
For $20 a month you can host a bunch of sites.

Dreamhost gets kudos, too. http://www.dreamhost.com/

How to change your host?

1) Setup your hosting account at the new company creating your account, password, billing, etc.
2) Log in to the control panel.
3) Create the email accounts you use and set up the catch all account to get email that doesn';t go elsewhere. Look for the mail server settings for your email clients. (pop.mail.mydomaincom, etc) and set up your client.
4) FTP you web site to the new host and test it. (This will be non-trivial if you have a SQL app already. You do a export and import using the appropriate SQL admin account.)
5) Look for the DNS server names, i.e. ns1.mysite.com, ns2.mysite.com
6) Log in to GoDaddy or your other domain registrar and put the DNS hosts in for your domain.

It can take a few hours to a day for the DNS server change to propogate. Once it does, all servers looking for your site or to send you email will go to the new host.