- What
are the necessary steps to transfer my website to
ePowHost?
- Why
can some people see my website, while others can't?
- Why
are changes to my domain name taking longer than
normal?
- I
could see my website yesterday, but not today?
- Why
can't I perform a ping or traceroute on my website?
- Why
can my ISP's support department see my site and I
can't?
- Is
there anywhere else I can get more information?
What are the necessary steps to transfer my website
to ePowHost?
When you transfer your website to a new web hosting company
you will need to do a few simple steps:
1. Transfer your Domain Name
Go to the website where you registered your domain name
(yoursite.com) and log in. Most registrars will have several
domain name management options for you to choose from.
You will want to choose an option that will say something
like "Change Web Hosting Companies" or "Change
DNS Info". Your domain registrar may have slightly
different terminology. If you have difficulty their technical
support department will be able to assist you.
Once you have found the correct area at your registrar
you will need to supply them with the Primary and Secondary
DNS information that you were sent when you received the
login information for your website.
2. Upload your files
When you receive your username and password you can use
any standard FTP program to upload the pages and images
to your website. A guide for Using FTP is located Here.
3. Wait
It takes 24-48 hours for changes to the DNS information
at your registrar to be available to the vast majority
of the internet, although it may take from 1-2 weeks for
100% propagation. During this time it is normal for some
people to be able to view your website, while others may
not be able to. This is due to the way that domain names
are resolved by your local dialup or broadband ISP. If
you are transferring a website from another web hosting
company it is recommended that you keep both your old
and your new website active and allow at least a week
before you shut down your old website. This allows people
that have ISP's that update their records less often continuous
access to your website.
Why can some people see my website while others can't?
When you type a domain name (somesite.com) into your
browser it has to have a way to find the correct website.
The way that this happens is that your browser sends a
request to your local ISP's DNS (Domain Name Server).
Every ISP has to keep a complete record of where every
single domain name on the internet should resolve or nothing
would happen when you type something.com into your web
browser.
Your ISP gets it's list from the Internic which maintains
the central domain name registry. The Internic database
is updated daily based upon changes submitted to it by
each domain name registrar. Because the list is constantly
changing, your ISP needs to update it's list quite often
in order for your browser to always find the correct website.
Every ISP will update it's list at a different interval
than the next. Some get the new list twice a day, while
others update once a week. Generally speaking the larger
ISP's Earthlink, Ameritech, AOL, etc... will have a more
current version of the registry than small town ISP's,
but that is not always the case.
Typically it takes 24-48 hours for new registrations
or changes to a domain name to be visible to the vast
majority of the internet. However, because of the dependency
upon so many local and national ISP's to update their
DNS records, it is very common for you to be able to see
your website sooner than your friends and colleagues,
or vice versa.
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Why are changes to my domain name taking longer than
normal?
When you register or modify a domain name with your domain
name registrar it has to be submitted to Internic in order
for the entire process to start. Most registrars submit
changes twice daily, however, some discount registrars
have been known to submit changes to Internic only once
every several days. The processing time of your registrar,
combined with the DNS updating schedule of local ISP's,
can delay changes to your DNS records to be unavailable
to a portion of the internet for up to a week or more.
If you are changing web hosting company's during this
period it is recommended that you keep your old site active
for at least a week in order to allow for the lag time
by your registrar, and all ISP's.
Don't forget to check your domain name in the Whois record
at: http://www.internic.net/
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I could see my website yesterday, but not today?
This can be caused by a number of factors during the
propagation period - troubleshooting tips are as follows:
* Temporary internet files:
Clear out your history, and your temporary internet files,
close your browser, and try again. If your browser is
trying to use stored data, it may try to pull files from
your old website.
* Check your site with a second dialup connection:
Check your site with a second dialup connection such as
AOL, or call a friend that has a different ISP than you
do. If they can see your site, while you cannot, then
it is an issue with your ISP.
* Call Your ISP's technical support department:
When you notice that it's taking a longer than normal
time for your changes to propagate, it is a good idea
to call your dialup provider's technical support department
to troubleshoot your situation.
Typical reasons to have intermittent availability of
your website during the propagation period are:
* Multiple DNS servers:
Your ISP may have multiple DNS servers which can take
turns answering request from browsers. They may rotate
duties for each request, or you may have a specific DNS
server for each session that you are logged into the internet.
Each DNS server may be operating from a different version
of the master DNS file from the Internic.
* Cached DNS:
Check with your ISP to see if they are using a "cached"
(pronounced "cashed") DNS file, and how long
it has been since it has been "flushed". Caching
means that the server has a copy of recently requested
domains in it's active memory so it will not have to access
it's hard drive for new requests for domain names that
it has recently retrieved. If you are browsing to a site
that has been cached, even if the server has the correct
info in it's DNS file, it may have a cached version that
has the old information. This will mean that you will
not be able to view your website until the cache has been
flushed. Most ISP's flush their cache daily.
* Corrupted DNS:
Occasionally your ISP's DNS records will be corrupted.
The ISP's DNS file can become corrupted if there was some
loss during the data transfer, or part of the file was
written to a bad sector on the DNS server's hard drive.
While this is a rare occurrence, it has been known to
happen, and will usually be fixed by waiting until the
next update of your ISP's DNS file.
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Why can't I perform a ping or traceroute on my website??
As a security precaution, our hosting servers will have
ICMP turned off. This prevents the server from responding
to ping or traceroute requests. This helps to prevent
DOS (denial of service) attacks by hackers, and is done
to help keep your website safe.
Why can my ISP's support department see my website and
I can't?
This is a common occurrence when a website is in it's
propagation period. The most common cause is that your
ISP's support person may be using a different DNS server
than you are assigned as a dialup customer. This is especially
true with larger ISP's that may have customers in many
cities, and many DNS servers. When the technician checks
your website, he may also be bypassing the cache in the
DNS server, allowing him to view your site.
Note: Occasionally an ISP's tech support will suggest
that you are being blocked by your web host's server from
some reason. If you are hosted with ePowHost that is simply
not true. As long as your website is visible to people
dialing in from various ISP's then everything is configured
correctly, and is running properly, and the only thing
you can do is wait for your ISP to update their DNS file.
Is there anywhere else I can get information?
For more information on how DNS system woks read the
Internic FAQ located at:
http://www.internic.net/faqs/authoritative-dns.html
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