Moving your site from one domain to another

We recently had a client who wanted to move their existing website to a new domain name. We were able to easily move the website over with no downtime and negligible additional cost.

Why? Because we built their website in Plone, the content management system that we use almost exclusively.

Ok, this is the tech section of our newsletter after all, so let’s share some tech (but feel free to skim through this part, we’ve got the ujuzi so you don’t have to).

Q: Can my current website be moved from one domain to a new one?
A: Yes, and if yours is a Plone website, it is super easy. If not, it is more tricky.

Q: What makes it easier in Plone?
A: Plone automatically adjusts the links on your website to show the new domain, without any manual changes. On other systems you have to set the new domain name in the database, and then also check that the internal links are not explicitly set to the old domain name.

Q: Any other tips I should keep in mind?
A: When you change the domain name, it’s useful to let the old domain redirect to the new one, so that anyone going to your old domain still finds you.