Help moving domain without affecting email

Hi all,

Hope this is the right forum for this... i'll try and explain as best I can:

- We have a domain "joebloggs.com" with Company A
- Company A also manage the DBS and have the mx records setup so that email ([email protected]) is directed to our in-house smtp server (running Exchange 2003 on an SBS box).
- We want to move the domain from Company A to Company B
- Company B has told us to ask Company A for an authorisation code for the domain transfer, and also to tell them NOT to kill the DNS for 7 days
- IF Company A mess up and do kill the DNS, we lose emails etc for a few days

Is there any way to achieve the transfer "risk free"? We really can't afford to lose emails for even 1/2 a day!

Thanks!!
Raj

Hi Raj,

Copy the DNS from A to B
Then update the nameservers from A to B before transfer.
Transfer domain

Even if A do delete the zone during/after transfer, the nameservers would have already been changed to B prior to initiating it.

Matt

Although I agree with Uno's comments, I would suggest that, if you have the expertise to run your own email server, then now is a good time to take control of the DNS yourselves (independent of Company A or Company B)

You should do this first, and then you will always have full control of your domain name. Your company's domain name is a very valuable asset and should not be left in the control of the same company who host the website.

I use an account with Heart Internet to manage all of my domains and I have complete control of all of the zone records, etc. (there are, of course, others who provide this service)

If you are not happy with taking full control of the detailed Zone records, then you can go for the much simpler solution using the same account (with Heart, or elsewhere) and you then change just the name server records to point wherever (and whenever) you want them.

If you are really serious about your business, then you should at least have two Name Servers at different physical locations. If the name servers are all on one server and it fails, you just vanish totally from the Internet. (website, email, everything)

Thanks for all the advice guys, we're going to start with a simple move first as initially suggested, and then I will definitely look at the options for having some kind of redundancy for the DNS.

Thanks!!
Raj

For anyone else who comes across this thread and wonders about DNS management services, here are a few I have used:

zoneedit.com
web-dns.co.uk
namecheap.com

I mostly used them to provide for multiple MX records as a lot of hosting firms (in my experience) seem to skimp on mail servers and only allocate 1. In some cases my clients have used Runbox.com as their mail service in preference to the web hosting firm's server.

I have since started using Xilo for web hosting and they have multiple mail servers as standard.

In reply to a post by ultra:

For anyone else who comes across this thread and wonders about DNS management services, here are a few I have used:

zoneedit.com

I've recently had loads of problems with zoneedit, if fact seems to be every Spring.
I use these now http://www.dnsexit.com/