Adventures in Site Migration: Domain Names

Posted by

David MacKinnon

If you haven’t registered a domain, the process is simple: just get WHS (Web Host Canada) to register a domain for you.

In my case, I had a domain registered with GoDaddy. For multiple reasons, I had planned to move to a Canadian DNS (domain name server) registrar, and it was convenient that WHS also maintained domains.

Transferring a domain name

If you have a domain, the first thing you need to do is unlock it. How you do that will depend on who registers the domain for you. In my case it was a simple setting that was relatively easy to find.

The next step is to obtain a transfer, or EPP, code. This may be a bit more involved, but a bit of poking around revealed how to do that for GoDaddy. The process will vary depending who is your current domain registrar.

The final step was to provide WHC tech support with the domain name and EPP code and they handled the switch. In my case, the transfer took less than 24 hours.

Just remember to cancel your account with the old registrar.

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)

WHS does not provide SSL by default; it needs to be purchased as an add-on to your web host/domain registration package. This encrypts data to provide a secure transfer of information. I planned to sell digital images (and possibly site membership) so SSL is a minimum requirement for secure financial transactions. You can tell if a site uses SSL if it is prefaced with https (hypertext transfer protocol – secure).

I purchased SSL while transferring the domain name, so the SSL was NOT attached to my domain name initially. It required another chat with tech support to switch the SSL to my domain.

I recommend not purchasing the SSL until you’ve completed the domain transfer so ensure that SSL gets associated with your domain. Also, test your web site by accessing it using the https prefix.