2 replies to this topic

[jenbeast]

Hi,

Thank the internets I found this forum!

 

A client currently has their site on a Windows server running an ASP shopping cart. Due to an expansion of the business they want to change the URL, and move to a PHP cart, which will also require a change in web hosting. Currently the chosen new URL is forwarding to the live site and is already being put into use in marketing materials and email addresses (they are very anxious to move forward!)

 

I am trying to think of the best way to accomplish this. There are a lot of backlinks to the site and it's been active for 5 years so losing Google ranking is a concern.

 

Also I've done bulk 301 redirects using htaccess files before but never from a Windows server - In this forum I saw something about "URL-rewrite" is that the way to do it?

 

Here's what I was thinking, I'd love to get some feedback:

1. Re-create current site on the new server with the new cart. (there are a lot of site pages that exist outside the shopping cart structure) Minimal code language (asp to php) changes and of course the page extensions will be changed from .asp to .php
2. Remove forwarding on new URL and point it to the new server
3. Use redirects on current site to point to each page's doppleganger on the new server and use info I found on this forum about redirecting dynamic shopping cart pages to do the same with each product page in the cart. The timing of this is weird - I worry about downtime before the redirects are enabled and the URL propogates to the new IP because it's currently being used I can't set the dns ahead of time
4. Continue to develop site on new server as normal, implementing redirects when pages change, etc. (A site overhaul/redesign is also on the menu)

Whew! How does that sound? Not sure if I'm thinking this through right. A thousand thank yous for any points to the right direction!

 

 

[qwerty]

Makes sense to me. I would add that #3 shouldn't be a problem. I haven't moved a site in a while, but I've found that in the past 4 or 5 years, DNS propagation has been much faster than it used to be -- within hours most of the time. I can remember when it used to take a few days.

 

And you should be able to set up the redirects in the IIS management console.

Edited by qwerty, 09 March 2013 - 09:35 AM.

[jenbeast]

Alright! Thanks for the quick response! I think we're done here