Common Questions Regarding Provo Migration

You may have received a notice from HostGator regarding the migration of your account to a new, upgraded server. We periodically upgrade our servers and systems to provide the best and most reliable customer experience possible. Sometimes this means migrating your server or hosting account to a better server in a different data center. When this happens, we work hard at making the process as smooth as possible with little or no downtime.

 We have developed this FAQ to answer many of the inquiries we receive regarding these notices and the migration process to assist you better. For questions specifically regarding Linux Dedicated hosting, please skip to the appropriate section below:

• Linux Dedicated Hosting⤵

1. The notice said I need to update my private name servers' IPs. Where and how do I do that?

   If some or all of your sites use private name servers, you will need to update the IPs associated with them at your domain registrar. HostGator will take care of the DNS settings on our server.

   To learn more about how to update your name servers' IPs at your registrar, please read the article How Do I Update My Name Server IPs?

2. The notice said that some or all of my domains use remote private name servers, and I have to update their IPs. Where and how do I do that?

   Remote private name servers have their DNS hosted on a remote, third-party service. The domain is pointed to a HostGator server by putting your server's IP as the domain's A record.

   To ensure a smooth transition to the new server, you need to update the A record for each listed domain to the IP we sent in your notice. Please note that you only need to modify the DNS settings at the remote DNS server.

3. When should I make the DNS changes? (Should I wait until the migration is complete?)

   Do not wait until the migration is completed as there is a 24-48 hour DNS propagation period following DNS changes. We have designed the migration process to minimize any downtime. As a part of that, we are forwarding the traffic for the IPs we sent you in your notice to the live server throughout the migration process. This means you should update your DNS settings to reflect the new IPs as soon as possible.

4. How can I double-check the settings/changes I've made?

   If you have made DNS changes and want to be sure you have made the correct changes, please reply to your notice ticket, and we will be happy to double-check for you.

5. I am attempting to make the appropriate changes at the registrar, but I receive an error that says "name servers must be fully qualified domain names" or "cannot be IP addresses."

   Please double-check which setting you're attempting to update. You should be updating the IP that your private name servers point to, not changing the name servers for each of your domains.

6. I am using Cloudflare for my name servers. What IP(s) will I need to use for my domains?

   Please reply to your notice, and we will send you the IPs that should be used in your Cloudflare settings.

7. The notice was confusing. Do I need to use the websitewelcome.com name servers?

   While you may use our name servers at any time, you do not need to use our default name servers for the migration. However, you need to ensure that you have updated your private name servers to the IPs we have sent in your migration notice. If you are already using our name servers (nsXXXX.websitewelcome.com), you do not need to change any of your settings.

Linux Dedicated Hosting

The following are commonly asked questions regarding migrating Linux Dedicated Servers to the Provo data center.

1. Is my dedicated server virtualized?

   Every HostGator dedicated server physically resides on an individual, dedicated hardware. However, the operating system can cause the appearance of virtualization due to the existence of a virtualized management layer, known as KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine), which allows for proactive monitoring and resolution of any hardware failures before downtime and/or data loss. The KVM also allows for vastly more efficient reboots and upgrading/downgrading of hardware.

2. Will my IP addresses change?

   A change of IP address is required as a result of this migration. However, the process utilized should result in no downtime or connectivity issues. Once all data has been thoroughly synced, traffic will begin being routed through your old server to your new server, at which point you will be provided with the necessary IPs to create name servers.

   Note: If your domains are registered through HostGator, we will automatically update your name servers for you. Once the DNS has been successfully updated, traffic will cease to flow through the old server, and it will be taken offline.
3. Will there be any downtime?

   Given the process stated above regarding routing traffic from the old server to the new server and the appropriate DNS changes taking place, there will be only minimal downtime resulting from certain services needing to be momentarily stopped to ensure no database corruption has occurred.

4. Will my server specs remain the same?

   We will be applying RAM and CPU configurations that provide performance equal to or greater than those in your existing machine.

5. What if I update my website during the migration?

   Part of our process for this migration includes performing three separate syncs of your data to ensure we have the most up-to-date version of your files on the new server. We will then sync the raw MySQL data. Once this is completed, we will disable MySQL and make a final sync to put the most up-to-date information in place. As stated above, we will begin routing any traffic going from the old machine to the new one.

6. Will SSL certificates need to be reinstalled?

   In short, no. There have been no instances thus far resulting in any necessary action on the customer side pertaining to the installation of SSL certificates.

7. What is the new root password?

   No passwords are changed as part of this migration. All existing passwords, including root, should be the same.

8. What is the new WHM URL?

   WHM can be accessed via the domain as normal once the above mentioned forwarding is in place.

9. Where do I update private name servers?

   If your domain is registered through HostGator, we will take care of this for you. However, if you utilize another registrar, you will need to log into your domain control panel and update the IPs associated with your private nameservers to the IPs provided by HostGator.