We’ve had some of our web site maintenance customers since 1999, and boy, a lot has changed in the web world since then! One of our cleanup tasks is to help people get their sites onto updated servers, like we did for one of our clients this weekend. It went very smoothly except for the database. It turned out the original format of the database was no longer compatible with the new MySQL software. Support was able to fix it, no problem. So, that made me think of the important things you need to consider when you’re moving to a new web server.

• Email Addresses - Be aware that all of your pop3 users (people who pick up their email directly from the server) will need to change settings in their email programs. If the email addresses are forwarded, you probably won’t have to do anything.
• Server Name or Program Paths in Scripts - Many web site programs have configuration settings that depend on the internal settings of your particular web host. Chances are, these settings are not the same from server to server, so you’ll need to check your software for places to update server settings. A program path example would be the location of sendmail - this client has cgi scripts which use sendmail, and one of its settings is the location of the sendmail program files on the server. The old server had /usr/lib/sendmail, and the new host has /usr/sbin/sendmail. A subtle change but it managed to break every program that sends mail, which is no good! Just a few tweaks set it right, though.
• Database and Software Versions - Some features in older versions of software may no longer exist in the new software, like what happened to the database in today’s project. There was another small problem of the same sort, and that’s detailed below. So be aware - upgraded web software may break some of your programming… hopefully only things that are simple to fix!

The problem that brought on this post was a change to the htaccess handling on the new server. For the next time I have to do this sort of thing, here’s what had to be changed…

Old .htaccess:
Options +Includes
AddType text/x-server-parsed-html .html
AddType text/x-server-parsed-html .htm
AddType application/x-httpd-cgi .cgi

New .htaccess:
Options +INCLUDES
AddOutputFilter INCLUDES html htm

Oh, and one other thing of which you want to be absolutely sure of before you change servers - have a good backup copy of your site!! The importance of having a complete backup cannot be underestimated. Wacky things can happen, and if you’re prepared, chances are likely you could at least get back to where you were before the upgrade.

With a little preparation and planning, you can have a smooth transition from one server to another. As always, contact us if you need help upgrading your web hosting. We’re glad to help!