Want to change domain names

General General Questions
1

Hi all, I've built a hosted site at www.abcd.com but now want to change the name to www.efgh.com at the same host. A part form the license (which i know is done through helpdesk) I'm not sure how to do it. The KB mentions moving directories and servers but not sure if either of these apply. Any help would be appreciated…

2

Contact helpdesk and tell them that you are changing your domain name… so they will change the domain name license.

3

Should be a very easy job. First point the new domain name towards your IP.


  1. Then wait until the new domain name is pointing towards your server (can take a while)
  2. Update your hosting account by changing it's domain (ask your host or do it yourself if possible).
  3. Update cs-carts config.php file (change the domain name in there)



    That should do it.
4

Remember your 303 301 htaccess redirects (Doh)

5

Oyeah, in case you would like to keep your ranking, you will have to 301 redirect your old domain, but assuming it's a new site this won't matter.

6

That's great. Thanks for taking the time to respond Flow & Kogi. Really appreciate it.

7

this thread is very useful for me thank you. i do have a question though. I am in a similar situation, i am building the new website on a new dedicated server and currently the address is the I.P. adderess. The existing website still has the nameservers pointed to it so when i am done building the new site i will point the name servers to the new website… easy right. so do i still need to 301 redirect the old domain? since the website i am working on is currently in the top position on google for its key words this is very important for me to know.

8

You should add a 301 redirect on your old site's .htaccess file that points to your new IP. This will catch any errant/stray requests that might come in. After a few days you can just delete the old site including the redirect.



You need to use the IP in this case because it might be that the name servers referenced by your site have been updated and maybe not. When you access a site by it's IP address, the config.local.php will redirect to whatever you have configured for your 'http_host'.

9

Thank you tbirnseth for your help on this I really appreciate it. :mrgreen: