Web host switch - Questions
polycounter lvl 18
I've started having some support and webmail issues with my current hosting service and was considering switching (especially after everyone's recommendations of dreamhost), but I've got a few questions since I'm not a real web expert.
I got free domain registries with my old hosting service upon sign up. Can these be transferred? I mean, are they my domains, or the hosting company's at this point? Is it better to register domains yourself first to avoid this issue?
Also, on my personal site I've got a big baby blog for my family. It's Wordpress if that matters. Will a new hosting company be able to transfer this intact, or will this need to be done by me manually? I'm slightly clueless as to how to do this, and it would be a shame to lose the blog which is near and dear to my extended family's hearts.
Since everyone is so positive about dreamhost, I could give that one a shot but am curious about their spam filtering. How is it for e-mail, specifically webmail? I'm getting slammed through my current one, and can't seem to get spam filtering to do much about it with my current webmail setup.
I've actually got two sites that I'm considering transferring, and if anyone has experience with this, I'd appreciate any suggestions that would make it less painful.
I got free domain registries with my old hosting service upon sign up. Can these be transferred? I mean, are they my domains, or the hosting company's at this point? Is it better to register domains yourself first to avoid this issue?
Also, on my personal site I've got a big baby blog for my family. It's Wordpress if that matters. Will a new hosting company be able to transfer this intact, or will this need to be done by me manually? I'm slightly clueless as to how to do this, and it would be a shame to lose the blog which is near and dear to my extended family's hearts.
Since everyone is so positive about dreamhost, I could give that one a shot but am curious about their spam filtering. How is it for e-mail, specifically webmail? I'm getting slammed through my current one, and can't seem to get spam filtering to do much about it with my current webmail setup.
I've actually got two sites that I'm considering transferring, and if anyone has experience with this, I'd appreciate any suggestions that would make it less painful.
Replies
I got free domain registries with my old hosting service upon sign up. Can these be transferred? I mean, are they my domains, or the hosting company's at this point? Is it better to register domains yourself first to avoid this issue?
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They are yours, your host should have a way to transfer them... I suggest you start a Godaddy account and transfer them there and use them from your new host.
Blog: You will need to handle it manually, but it is a relatively easy thing to do... find a friend or online friend who you somewhat trust and ask if they can do it, give them cPanel access or whatever they need, then change your password when they're done.
Spam: I get lots if your address has already been made public (like listed on your website as [email="email@domain.com)."]email@domain.com).[/email] I would suggest you buy a program to stop spam if you are worried about it, I don't mind deleting a dozen emails a day though.
Usually when you register a free domain through a company they will register under their name (unless you request differently). You can do a check by going to http://www.allwhois.com/ and typing in your domain name to see who it is registered to. Ask them to have it transferred to your Dreamhost account once you've signed up, and through Dreamhost you can choose whether or not they do it under your name through the control panel. I don't have a lot of experience with Wordpress, but from what I've heard you can use this PHP script to export your blog and import it again to your new wordpress setup. In Dreamhost's control panel you can just "enable" a wordpress blog and it will set everything up for you. As far as spam filtering, I have not had any spam personally since I use it only for work stuff, but all my clients who have email through Dreamhost seem to have no complaints.
If you need some further help feel free to PM me.
thanks for sharing...