Moving your website to Noiz without downtime
A website moves without downtime when the new server is ready and tested before anyone is sent to it. Copy the files, databases and mailboxes to Noiz first, check the site on the new server from your own computer, and lower the DNS time to live a day or more ahead. Then change the DNS records, and keep the old hosting open until mail has stopped arriving there. Visitors reach whichever server their DNS answer points to, and both serve the same site during the switch, so nobody sees it go down. If you are planning a move to Noiz and have questions, open a ticket and we will answer them.
What actually moves
A website is several things that happen to share a domain name. Each one moves in its own way.
| Part | What it is | How it moves |
|---|---|---|
| Website files | The code, themes, images and uploads | Copied over SSH or FTP, or imported by the control panel |
| Databases | The content and settings of most dynamic sites | Exported from the old server and imported on the new one |
| Mailboxes | Every address and every message in it | Created on the new server, then messages copied over IMAP |
| DNS records | The entries that tell the internet where the site and mail live | Recreated on the new nameservers, or updated where they are |
| Certificates | What makes the site load over HTTPS | Issued fresh on the new server |
Plesk, the control panel on Noiz shared hosting, documents tools for this. Its Site Import extension copies files, databases and recognised applications from another server, and its Mail Import copies every IMAP folder, keeping dates and read status, without deleting anything from the old mailbox.
Why "propagation" takes time, and how to shorten it
When someone visits your site, their computer asks a DNS resolver where the domain lives. The resolver asks your nameservers once, then keeps the answer for as long as the record's time to live (TTL) allows. The DNS standard defines the TTL as the number of seconds a record may be cached before it should be thrown away.
What people call propagation is all those resolvers around the world holding the old answer until their copy expires. Nothing is pushed out. So the TTL decides how long the changeover lasts.
To make the switch short:
- Lower the TTL well ahead. Set the records you will change to a short TTL, such as five minutes. Do it at least one old TTL before the move: if the record had a TTL of a day, lower it a day before.
- Make the change. Once the short TTL is in place everywhere, change the record. Resolvers pick up the new answer within minutes.
- Raise the TTL again once everything has settled.
The standard treats the TTL as a maximum: a resolver may drop an answer sooner, but should not keep it longer. Our help centre explains the records and the nameserver options in how to point your domain to Noiz hosting.
Test the new server before anyone sees it
You can view your site on the Noiz server before the DNS changes, so any problem is found while the old site is still live.
The usual way is the hosts file on your own computer. It maps a name to an address for that computer only. Point your domain at the Noiz server's address there, and your computer loads the new copy while everyone else still sees the old one. Click through the pages, sign in, send a test form, and check the images. When you are done, remove the line.
The order of a move with no downtime
- Order the hosting and add the domain to it.
- Lower the DNS TTL on the records you will change.
- Copy the site: files and databases to the new server.
- Create the mailboxes with the same addresses, and copy the mail across.
- Test the site on the new server through your hosts file.
- Freeze changes on the old site: no new posts, orders or form entries go into the old database during the switch, or they will need copying again.
- Copy the database once more if anything changed since step 3.
- Switch DNS: point the website records, and the mail records when you move mail, at Noiz.
- Issue certificates. Let's Encrypt checks the domain over the web, so the certificate is issued once the domain reaches the new server.
- Copy the mail again to pick up anything that arrived at the old server during the switch.
- Keep the old hosting open for a few days, and check its mailboxes until nothing new arrives.
Why the old host stays open
Email does not arrive all at once at the new server. A sending mail server looks up your domain's mail (MX) records and uses whatever answer its resolver has cached. Until those caches expire, some mail still goes to the old server. Mail servers also retry failed deliveries for days. Keeping the old mailboxes open, and copying from them one last time, means no message is lost.
Cancel the old hosting only once its mailboxes have stayed empty and the new site has run without trouble for a few days.
Moving your domain as well
You can keep your domain with its current registrar and point it at Noiz, or transfer it in so your hosting and domains sit in one place. A transfer is a separate step from the website move, and it is easiest after the site is settled. Our help centre covers setting up a domain for your website.
Moving to Noiz
If you are not sure what your move involves, open a ticket with the details of your current hosting and get in touch with us. Choose your plan on the shared hosting page, or open a ticket first if you are not sure which fits.
Sources
Checked 19 October 2026.
Standards
- RFC 1035: Domain names, implementation and specification (TTL, section 4.1.3; caching, section 7.4)
- RFC 2181: Clarifications to the DNS specification (TTL, section 8)
- RFC 5321: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (retry and give-up times, section 4.5.4.1)
- hosts(5) manual page
Tools
Noiz
- Shared hosting
- How to Point Your Domain to Noiz Hosting (Noiz help centre)
- How to Set Up a Domain for Your Website (Noiz help centre)
- How to Import and Export a Database with phpMyAdmin (Noiz help centre)
Note: while some of this content was produced with the help of AI, the final editing has been done by a real human being.
