How To Transfer Domain Name and Hosting From A Service Provider

There are many reasons why you may want to switch your hosting provider.

It might be because you have outgrown what your present provider is capable of giving or you just realize that all the promises they made to you were empty words.

Or perhaps you just figure out what you can get more for less.

Whatever the reason might be, transferring your domain or website/hosting from one host to another is as normal as breathing.

If done by a competent crew, you won’t have anything to worry about.

If it is to move your hosting account and leave the domain name where it is, it is a process that shouldn’t exceed 5-10 minutes for most websites.

You simply just need to change your “A” record and name-servers to point to the ones that you got from your new hosting provider.

To avoid downtime, arrange with your new web host for the day, hour and minute for the migration, then an hour to that time, reduce your TTL (Time-To-Live) to something like 300 seconds at your domain registrar.

Time to live (TTL) is a numerical value that determines how long a DNS cache server can serve a DNS record before reaching out to the authoritative DNS server and getting a new copy of the record.

It refers to the amount of time or “hops” that a packet is set to exist inside a network before being discarded by a router.

Once the prescribed event count or timespan has elapsed, data is discarded or revalidated.

If it is a migration that with a large number of accounts, then careful planning is required to ensure that minimal downtime for the websites.

If you would be moving your domain name along with the hosting, then you probably need to make adequate preparation for this.

The same goes if you want to transfer the domain to another registrar.

One of the things that you need to have access to is the domain’s EPP.

EPP (alternatively called an auth code, a transfer key, a transfer secret, an EPP code, EPP authentication code, or EPP authorization code) is a transfer secret key or code granted by all the domain name registrars.

This code is used as a protection mechanism, to ensure that only the rightful domain owner can control the transfer of the domain registration.

Domain names are valuable and important properties, and theft has been a problem.

If you are unsure who your domain registrar is, perform a whois search on the domain name you wish to transfer.

Look at the registrar field.

This whois field will list your current domain name registrar.

The simply follow these instructions listed below for that particular registrar to obtain your domain name’s authorization code.

You may need to check any help or knowledge base available on your current registrar’s site.

If your registrar doesn’t have an article on Authorization Codes or Auth Codes, email your existing registrar’s customer support from the domain’s administrative contact address and request your Authorization Code or Auth Code for a particular domain name.

Don’t buy it if you are told that the domain name does not have an authorization code (unless it s .jp domain or similar extension).

Be persistent!

To recap, follow steps below before attempting a domain transfer:

• Ensure that the domain is at least 60 days old. Regulations prohibit transferring domains that are less than 60 days old (or were transferred between registrars within the last 60 days). Please wait at least 60 days before transferring.
• If your domain expired with your old registrar and you renewed it with them, please do not transfer it within 45 days of the previous expiry date since it will not add 1 more year to your domain name and you will lose out on the renewal fees paid to the older Registrar.
• Retrieve the EPP Authorization key from your current registrar.
• Unlock the domain.
• Make sure the WhoIS information is up-to-date.
• Since transfer verification email will be sent to the Administrative Contact email address, make sure you have access to the email address stated in the WhoIs Information.
• Update the assigned name-servers prior to initiating the transfer.

This process can take up to 7 days, so please allow plenty of time for your previous registrar to approve the transfer.

If the domain transfer fails, there are two things that always tend to be the reason.

1. Incorrect Email Address: Make sure that the email addresses associated with your domain at the domain registrar are correct and working. Once you start the transfer, the current registrar is going to email this address asking for permission to move the domain. If the email listed isn’t your email or doesn’t work, you can’t respond to this email and thus the transfer will fail.
2. Locked Domain Prevents Transfer: Make sure that the domain isn’t locked. If it is locked, even if you agree to the transfer, the transfer will fail.

If everything is OK and you have gained access to your EPP, it is time to start the migration.

Sign up for a new hosting account before you cancel your existing plan. If you are setting up home with us, we made it fast and easy.

To do that, purchase a hosting account.

You can do that by visiting: https://dashboard.webhostingmagic.com/cart.php

During the signup process, you will be given three (3) options regarding the domain you want to use with the hosting account.

Either to register a new domain, transfer your domain from another registrar or use a domain you already owned and change the name-servers to point to our servers after completing your order.

Select the second option and follow the prompt until completion.

Once your hosting order has been approved, you will be asked for the login credentials to either your former hosting account’s cPanel or Plesk.

Mostly these would be:

• cPanel URL:
• cPanel Admin Username:
• cPanel Password:
• SSH Port:

If you have two-factor authentication enabled on the source server, you may need to remove it so the Migration Team can log in.

To make this a seamless experience, the process might require modifying your existing account username to use the one you that we are migrating from since your application databases may depend on it.

Once your new hosting account is set up, you will be given an IP address on which you can edit your website before any domain name changes are processed (whether or not you’re moving your registration).

That’s it!

Your website, data, email and application will now have a new home.

And since you will be sticking with the same domain name, you really don’t need to worry about losing SEO authority during the move.

However, it’s extremely important that you carry out this process out as surgically careful as possible as anything less than this may impact the site as a whole.

The simple rule to follow is to:

• Ensure that the domain is at least 60 days old.
• Make sure the WhoIs information is up-to-date.
• Make sure you have access to the email address stated in the WhoIs Information.
• Update name-servers to the new name servers prior to initiating the transfer.
• Unlock the domain.