Although it sounds like a daunting task, we make upgrading your
reseller plan (or web hosting plan) to a dedicated
server of your own extremely easy. If you're considering
upgrading to a server of your own, this article will help you
understand the necessary steps and processes.
First step - Order your new server
The first thing you should do is order your dedicated server. When ordering your server,
you can choose to add a backup hard drive (recommended, unless you
have an alternate backup solution), additional IP addresses (necessary if you want to setup resellers), and even more RAM if you wish (not usually necessary).
What We Do
Upon receiving your order, we will setup your new server as per your specifications.
This includes setting up your main hosting account, your server name, your master nameservers, and any existing accounts and/or reseller plans.
Stop existing recurring billing
Immediately upon receiving your dedicated server order, we will stop the monthly recurring billing of your existing reseller plan(s)
or web hosting accounts, and refund your initial reseller plan setup fees (if applicable, thus lowering the dedicated server setup fees)
Note: We can only refund setup fees up to a maximum of the setup fee of your new dedicated server.
Transferring your existing account(s)
If you had one or more accounts in your reseller plan on our server, then we will copy them all over your new server for you, if you want us to. We will also keep them in your original reseller plan on our server, until everything has been transferred to your server, and
your nameservers have been setup and propagated. When we copy over your accounts, all their information (i.e. email addresses, passwords, MySQL databases, shopping carts, etc) will be copied over as well.
If you had several reseller plans (i.e. lets say you were reselling our reseller plans) and want them all transferred to your new
server as well, then we will copy over those reseller plans and all
accounts in them as well.
Basically, everything you had setup on our servers.... be it one account, a reseller plan with multiple accounts, or multiple reseller plans with multiple accounts,
perhaps on different servers, we will copy everything over to your new
server if that's what you want us to do.
Welcome Email - "Your new Dedicated Server!"
Once everything has been copied over and your dedicated server is up
and running properly, we will send you a welcome email with complete instructions on accessing your new server, logging in to your root WebHost Manager, and the CPanel for your main
account. We also include instructions on how you and your customers
(regular and reseller customers) upload websites to the new server. This email will also contain DNS information, which you will need to register your custom nameservers (see below)
What You Do
When we setup your server, we assign it the custom nameservers you
request. These can be nameservers you were using in a reseller plan,
or new nameservers that have never been used. What you do next depends on how your reseller plan was setup initially:
If you've been using your own custom nameservers
If you had your own custom nameservers setup with your original reseller plan, then we will set them up the same way on your new
server (if you want). They will use a new set of IP addresses, so you will have to re-register your custom nameservers with the new IP addresses we provide in your welcome
email, with your registrar (if we are your registrar, then we will do
this for you). Using the same custom nameservers you were using in
your reseller plan means that all the individual accounts in your reseller plan will not have to have their DNS settings changed.... because they are already pointing to the right nameservers. Instead, changing the IP addresses for your nameservers
with your registrar will ensure that the domains are pointing to your new server.
If you've been using OUR nameservers
If you did not have custom nameservers in your original reseller plan,
or if you didn't have a reseller plan and are upgrading a web hosting
account instead, then your account(s) are likely pointing to our nameservers. This
will have to be changed for all accounts being transferred over to your new server. With a dedicated server, you must have your own custom nameservers (i.e.
ns1/ns2.yourdomain.com). Therefore, you will have to register new custom nameservers
with your registrar, with the IP addresses we assign them in your welcome email. Once your new nameservers are registered, you will then have to change the DNS settings of all your accounts' domain names (in your reseller plan) to point to your new custom nameservers. Once these changes propagate, all your accounts will be pointing to your new server.
Final Step/Conclusion
Once all your accounts are successfully pointing to your new server (typically 1 to 2 days after the necessary DNS changes are made), AND once you are satisfied that all information was successfully copied over, we will then be able to delete your reseller plan(s) and individual
web hosting accounts off our servers. We will confirm with you that everything is working fine before deleting your old
account(s) and/or reseller plan(s).
|
