I am going to transfer my sites to a new host very soon. The new host uses CPanel which is nice, but there is one thing that bothers me a lot. When I try to create a new add-on domain on the new host, it will check the nameserver record of that domain and reject if the record does not match the new host. The fact is, my sites are existing sites and their name records point to an existing host (the old host).

I know I can transfer all files to the new host, set everything up first and then transfer the nameserver. However, the new host usually can not pick up the changes in nameserver promptly and CPanel will reject my request to set up a new add-on domain. This could mean a few hours of downtime to my visitors (especially to new visitors).

Ideally I would want the add-on host record to be set up on the new host first, then I transfer the domain across. This way, it doesn't matter whether my visitors are seeing the old or the new DNS record: either way they can see my site during the transfer.

I don't want any down time between the transfer, what can I do?

If I remember correctly, this is a configurable option on the host's side (via root WHM), you will have to ask your host to help you with this one.

HTH

-b