Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : newbie question about email during webhosting change

[piotr_redo]

hi people,

im unsure as to whether this is the right forum to post but i hope some people can give me some info on this, and if not then direct me to another forum maybe?

anyhow, my question is:
i have a webhost and i want to switch to another, new one.
if i first sign up with the new one, and then after 3-5 days cancel the old one will i have any email bounced/lost if i do the following:

1. set up the email accounts again on the new webhost, using cPanel;
2. then change the DNS settings for my domain at my registrar.

theoretically this should be ok, resulting in no email lost? because the servers that have the old DNS address will forward mail to that address, which is gonna be ok since i wont cancel it before the new one is up and running. and the servers that have the new DNS address will forward it to the new account, which will also be set up and running.

am i right or wrong?
and if i'm wrong, is there any other way i can make absolutely sure i dont lose any email in the process of switching webhosts?

i've read about the MX function but, afaik, it only allows you to resend all emails to another, different, domain..

ANY feedback would be GREATLY appreciated!
thanks!

pete

[sprintserve]

You will not lose any emails as long as you keep the old server up for about a week after the switch. However you are going to have emails sent to the old and the new servers (depending on the senders ISP) for up to a week.

Just make sure that before you switch DNS

1. You have all the email accounts set up on the new servers.

Following that:

What I had done before is to issue the users the old server IP and ask them to create a new profile in their email client to continue to retrieve emails from the old servers for up to a week.

[piotr_redo]

thanks for the reply! just what i needed to know.

[kneadingu]

yeah keep the old server up for 3-7 days after you update the DNS.