moved host and domain is pointing to old host

[Emmanize]

I am designing a site for someone fairly high profile in the UK and run into something I am a tad unsure about.

The clients domain and hosting was with 123-reg. However they changed and now host with someone else. I have all the FTP details for the new host. However when I have attempted to upload the holding page, but when i go to the URL to have a look the site goes to an error message on 123-reg (the old host). I am guessing that the domain isn't pointing to the new host? I have tried sorting the web forwarding but with no luck.

What needs to be done? Is this something the client needs to sort out?

[JPnyc]

sounds like it. Sounds like they haven't yet pointed the domain name to the new host servers. Yes, that is something the client needs to sort out. Whoever owns the domain name has to transfer it.

[jibble]

oh boy...don't get me started on this one...

A while back we ran into a similar issue with a client and their domain. Since then we tell the client right away we have NOTHING to do with domains and hosts, just the design. The clients previous site designer got rather upset at the client(and us) for not hiring them to do the redesign and it was a FIASCO trying to get the things needed to get on the server.
Since then we have the client have complete control over their own hosting and domain. All we need is a login and password to get on the server. Thats it. Saved us a lot of headache since then...My advice, don't even deal with hosting and domains. Tell the client where to go for it and thats it, let them do it themselves.

[digizan]

I'm probably chiming in too late to help, but I'll go ahead anyway. It's been my experience that most clients don't have a clue what's involved in migrating a web site, regardless of whether it's from one hosting company to another or just to a different server within the same company.

When a web site is moved to a new hosting provider, the domain's nameservers need to be changed. When your client signed up for the new hosting, he would have received a welcome email which, along with the FTP info, should also have included the new nameservers. There are usually 2 nameservers provided and they look like ns1.some-domain-name.com / ns2.some-domain-name.com.

Once you (or your client) has this info in hand, then you have to contact the domain registrar to have the nameservers changed from those of the old hosting provider to those of the new. With some registrars this is done via a control panel, and with others you have to open a ticket (or contact them directly if user names & passwords have been lost or forgotten).

Once the nameservers have been pointed to the new host it may take anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of days for you to see the changes as they need propagate all across the internet.

It really shouldn't be that big a deal, but problems do occasionally arise. This usually occurs in one of two situations:


When, as someone else pointed out, a previous developer or designer has control of the domain (i.e. it was registered under their name) and for whatever reason gets snarky about the transfer.
When the client signed up with the previous company, a "free" domain was provided with the hosting service. This is because, again, the hosting company rather than your client may be listed as the legal registrant of the domain and/or (even if it's registered to your client) they may not provide an easy way to change the nameservers.

You can find out who the registrar is (a company, like GoDaddy or Network Solutions) as well as who is listed as the legal registrant (the person who has control of the domain) by doing a "whois" lookup. There are plenty of sites that provide free whois lookup services, but my personal favorite is http://whois.domaintools.com/ as they also give you a wealth of other info on the site.

Digi

[jibble]

ughh... goDaddy...don't get me started... Not even going to get into that one...