vb.business vb.business
Area of work

Hosting and email migration without downtime

A bad move is paid for in lost email and hours of unreachable site; a good one nobody notices.

When you need it

  • The current host is slow, expensive, or unreachable exactly when it matters.
  • The contract is ending and the supplier holds everything: site, mail and domain.
  • The migration quote contains the phrase "expect a few hours of disruption".

What's included

  • Site, database and mailboxes copied to a staging environment before the domain is touched.
  • Mail migrated with its history: folders, attachments and rules.
  • A planned DNS switch, with TTLs lowered in advance.
  • The old environment kept running until the new one is verified.

How I work

  1. 1Inventory of what actually exists: domains, mailboxes, cron jobs, certificates, integrations.
  2. 2A full rehearsal on a separate environment, signed off before the switch.
  3. 3Switch outside working hours, with site, mail and forms checked immediately.

Frequently asked questions

None, if the move is prepared. The new site is tested on a temporary address while the old one keeps working; the DNS switch is made with TTLs already lowered, and the old server stays up during propagation, so even someone still resolving the old address finds a working site.

That is the delicate part. Mailboxes are synchronised beforehand, a second pass runs after the MX change to collect whatever arrived in between, and the old mail server stays live for a few days. Done that way, nothing is lost.

Yes, and it is usually the smoothest route: read access and an agreed window are enough. If the supplier will not cooperate, which happens, it still works out, rebuilding from backups with the domain as leverage, because the domain stays yours.

Outcome

  • No window of disruption that customers can perceive.
  • Mail history intact, and nothing lost during the change.
  • A documented new environment, with the access in the company's hands.

Tools

rsync/IMAPSync Staging TTL & DNS cutover Backup Rollback plan

How is your own domain doing?

Expiry, registrant, SPF, DMARC: ten seconds, free, without leaving an address.

Check your domain

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