One plan for the whole thing
Domain, DNS, website, database, email and certificates treated as one move rather than five separate jobs that half-happen.
Services / Infrastructure Migrations
Moved properly.With a way back.
Websites, servers, email, domains and full platform moves.
Moving hosts sounds like a file copy. It isn't. The domain, the DNS records, the mail routing, the certificates, the database, the redirects and the third-party services that verify themselves through your DNS all have to arrive together, in the right order, without a gap in the middle.
What you get
A full record inventory first
Mail records, verification records for other services, subdomains people forgot existed. These are what get lost in a move, and losing one breaks something a fortnight later.
Tested before it's live
The new setup runs on a private hostname and gets used properly before any public change.
Timed around time-to-live
DNS changes take as long as the old records say they do. We lower those values in advance so the changeover is short and predictable.
The old setup stays up
We don't cancel anything until the new one has been proven for real. A rollback stays available the whole time.
Checked from the outside afterwards
Pages, redirects, forms, certificates and mail delivery verified from the internet, not just "it looks fine from here".
How it works
- InventoryEverything that exists, including the parts nobody mentioned in the briefing.
- PrepareBuild the new home, copy the content and data, set up mail, lower the time-to-live values.
- RehearseTest it on a private address: pages, logins, forms, checkout if there is one.
- Cut overChange the records at a sensible hour, keep the old service running, watch both.
- Verify and tidyCheck from outside, fix anything that surfaces, then retire the old service once you're happy.
Left alone, this is how it goes
What we get called about
None of these are hypothetical. They are the calls that come in, and every one of them is cheaper to prevent than to fix.
- The website moves and the email silently stops, because the mail records went with the old DNS.
- A service that verified itself through a DNS record stops trusting you, and no one connects the two events.
- The old host is cancelled the same day, so there is nothing to go back to.
- Redirects are missed and the search rankings you spent years building point at dead pages.
- The certificate doesn't follow the site, and every visitor gets a security warning on launch day.
Questions we get asked
How much downtime should we expect?
For a normal website and mailbox move, the aim is none that a visitor or a sender would notice. That is what the preparation buys: the old system keeps serving until the new one is answering.
How long does a move take?
The work is usually days rather than weeks; the changeover itself is short. What stretches a project is waiting for access to accounts nobody can find the login for, so starting that search early is the single best thing you can do.
Do you deal with our old provider?
We can, where you authorise it. Some providers will only talk to the account holder, in which case we write down exactly what to ask them for.
What about our search rankings?
Addresses stay the same wherever possible, and where they change we map old to new with permanent redirects so the rankings follow.
Got a technical mess?
Excellent. We like those.
Tell us what's going on. You'll hear back from a real person at Purple Imp.