I'm looking to move my website to a new host. I was recently made aware that I could use both nameservers of my old and new host until dns propagation has completed.

I am registered with 123cheapdomains.com

I only have 2 nameserver entries available there, which are both pointing to my current host. How do I go about transferring to a new host with the least amount of downtime?

Just an Fyi - I use a vBulletin message board, so I don't want to lose posts by having users post on the old host AND the new host.

First off, there shouldn't be any "down" time, unless you close down your account at the losing host. For propogation, people either see your old site or the new one, so if you have BOTH set up correctly and running live, the transition should be seamless, EXCEPT that vB forum which you may want to point existing users to the new IP address instead of the domain.

Originally posted by nameslave
First off, there shouldn't be any "down" time, unless you close down your account at the losing host. For propogation, people either see your old site or the new one, so if you have BOTH set up correctly and running live, the transition should be seamless, EXCEPT that vB forum which you may want to point existing users to the new IP address instead of the domain.

How do I have both running at the same time though? Don't I have to change the DNS records with my registrar? It appears you can only have one or the other there. If I change the nameservers to the new host, won't the users no longer get directed to the old one?

I'm sorry if these are dumb questions, I'm a newbie. :)

If your host allows you to do this, make vB on your new host connect to the database on the old server, then when every thing is propagated, just backup the database on the old server and transfer it to your new one.

Oops! I should not use the words "running live". I mean when you have everything ready (files uploaded, account active) at both the old and the new hosts, people will see either one of them during the transition (propagation). Just make sure you leave enough overlapping there: i.e. don't shut down your old hosting account on the same or even next day.