Points to Remember When Switching Web Hosts - Do All the Utilities Work?

Now we need to get a little more into the technical details. You need to know what operating system your current web host uses, as well as what operating system is used by your new web host. Are you dealing with Windows or a Unix-based system? You might not need to know exactly which flavors, but it wouldn't hurt. The reason you need this information is that your website actually might not work on an operating system different from the current one.

One good example of this would be a move from a Windows to a Unix-based server. It won't necessarily break things, but it could. If you use scripts created with a Windows-based programming language, you'll have real problems getting everything to work right on a Unix server. True, this little detail could turn out to be a non-problem, but it's one of those things that is much better to know in advance. Nobody likes unpleasant surprises when they move!

Following up on that same thought, make sure that your new hosting plan supports all of the scripts you plan to use on your website. In fact, you should check this well in advance. Best case, you don't have to make changes at all; worst case, the web host won't support them at all. The most likely case is somewhere in between; the new web host supports them, but you may have to make some modifications to get them to work properly (and you'll want to have those in place ahead of your "move-in date").

Unless you create your website from the HTML up by typing everything into a text file (and maybe even then), you should also find out what website creation and editing software your new web host supports. FrontPage? Dreamweaver? What versions? Make sure your new host supports the same software you use, down to the version number. And if you're thinking about changing your software, you'll also want to make sure the new host supports what you will probably be changing to.

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