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Editor: Matt Paines

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Switching IP Servers

A recent episode initiated by a phone call to the office a couple of weeks ago has prompted me to put this blog post up. A prospective client had moved servers to a completely different IP address. The site had a reasonably high amount of traffic, but during the change over his site stats plummeted.

Just to clarify a point here, we wouldn't normally expect any drop in traffic during a server switch, so the fact that we get a call in of such consequence is significant in it's self. I wouldn't dream of naming the guy but I think he'd be the first to admit he had gone into a minor frenzy, with a high degree of paranoia thrown in.

The fact is that switching servers has some basic rules. Get the site functioning fully before switch over, ensuring everything moves across. There is however one thing that needs to be considered at the point of switching your DNS records to the new IP address, don't turn the old server off or remove the site completely. Search engines often have their own DNS records, and as such may not update as quickly as the IP transfer. It wouldn't hurt therefore to keep the old site in situe for a week or so.

M.P