Last night I moved Blog Design Guy from WebFaction over to Bluehost. In the process, I ran into a problem I’ve come across every time I’ve dealt with new domain names and/or switching hosts: the old site wouldn’t go away!
In order to switch your host, you have to change your domain’s name servers. Simply put, these name servers tell browsers where they can find your website. When you’re working on a deadline as I was last night, you need things to switch quickly so you can make sure the new site is ready to go as soon as possible. The problem is, the changes you make aren’t necessarily instant. It can take up to 24 hours for your site to redirect and the results aren’t the same for everyone. Someone in Utah might see the new site while someone in New York is still getting served the old one.
Last night, as I was in a hurry to restore the database and get Blog Design Guy up to speed before anyone noticed, I got served the old site.
In the past, I’ve waited up to 4 hours for the right site to show up. I couldn’t wait that long last night, so here’s what I did to get the new site loading almost instantly.
