Moving domain from host to host

Vordar

Registered User
Joined
Jun 9, 2013
Messages
884
Im sure SOMEONE out there *cough cough* knows... Long story short, we have a domain that expires in a few weeks and I'd like to move it from the current small town provider over to Wix. The issue I'm having is I'm not a board member so I can speak on behalf of them to their current provider. Small town provider and the website looks like its from 94... it needs some fixing, nothing fancy but Wix is simple enough to make it look modern and let them have access to make updates to it as needed.

I know a few months back they asked the guy for some information so we could load the wix site, but he had no idea what they were talking about and was more or less unhelpful. Since he's the only guy in the area, they have bene at his mercy till now, so I want to be able to get the domain moved over to Wix's control. I know theres some help stuff via Wix with what I need, but as far as moving the domain from one host to another, is there anything i should be aware of or need to address for this to go smoothly?
 
Okay so the domain is registered with a registrar and it can stay there unless there is a problem with that registrar. It's possible the domain was registered with a site builder type of company that doesn't normally provide domain services.

Domains are pointed to name servers, the name servers point different sub domains and utilities like email to the actual servers. There are 3 situations that are typical. Your domain is pointed to its registrars name servers which means to point a subdomain somwhere you edit it there. The other 2 situations are that the domain is pointed to other name servers. Either because you wanted to use DNS somewhere else or a provider required it.

Our domain here is with GoDaddy but we use DigitalOcean's Nameservers. We used to use NFO's DNS because we used their shared hosting and had to. But they don't provide IPv6 support so when the site moved we changed name servers but the domain itself didn't move. WIX is most likely going to want you to point the name server settings in the domain control panel.

Potential Problems
Does the domain use email? If you need to retain your existing email services the MX records need to be changed to stay the way they are. If you are transitioning to another email service then this doesn't matter.

Transition
So DNS changes can take 15 minutes to 4 hours. Flushing DNS cache yourself you might see the change in only a couple of minutes. Follow Wix's instructions but you really want to avoid doing it until the new site is built. As soon as the name servers are changed, DNS lookup providers will start to direct users to the new name server which will then also tell them the new IP address of the server. Wix will either setup the DNS for you or give you the info to do so.

Changing Registrars
Normally lets say we decide to take our domain business from GoDaddy to Hover we would initiate the transfer which will take days. Once the account at the new registrar is setup we edit the nameservers/dns settings to match the current ones. That way when it does kick over the down time is minimal in fact usually none at all. If you are changing domain name registrars and webservers are the same time the down time could be hours.

IF YOU NEED A TEMP DOMAIN TO TEST ON LET ME KNOW. I have a stable of shit i think I just bought livedemodomain.com a couple of months ago.
 
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