Before cancelling an old hosting account, look up the domain's nameservers. If they still belong to the old host, copy every record to the new provider, change the nameservers at the registrar, wait, test, then cancel.

The morning after the cancellation

A business moves its website to a new host, checks the pages, and keeps the old hosting account for a month as a safety net.

Then the old account is cancelled. The next morning the site will not load, and email from customers stops reaching the office, some of it returned to them as undeliverable.

The new host says its server is fine, and it is. The site sits there complete, but nothing on the internet can find it.

The cause is a setting nobody touched during the move. The domain's nameservers still pointed at the old host, which kept answering for the domain until the account closed.

Three jobs that look like one

A working domain depends on three separate jobs. One company can do all three, or each can sit with a different company.

The registrar holds the registration itself. It is where the domain is renewed each year, and the only place the domain's nameservers can be set.

The nameservers hold the domain's records: short entries saying which server shows the website and which servers accept its email. Whoever runs the nameservers controls those answers.

The host runs the server that holds the pages and, often, the mailboxes. Moving to a new host changes this job and leaves the other two as they were.

What the old host's records were holding

When a host runs the nameservers too, it keeps the domain's records, usually created automatically with the account. They hold more than most owners remember:

Every one of these has to exist wherever the domain's answers come from. Closing the old account deleted the records, and the answers stopped.

How the old host kept things running

During a move, someone often edits the records at the old host to point at the new server. Visitors reach the new site, so the move looks finished.

Sometimes nobody changes anything. Visitors keep reaching the old copy of the site, mail keeps landing in the old mailboxes, and the new server sits unvisited.

Either way, the old host remains the company answering for the domain. The new host never was, because nobody told the registrar to send questions there.

Seeing which company answers

A whois lookup on the domain shows its registrar and its nameservers. Registrars offer one, and so do many free lookup pages.

Nameservers usually carry the name of the company running them, such as ns1 followed by a host's own domain. If it names the host you are leaving, the move is unfinished.

That setting lives in your registrar's control panel, the only place it can be changed. The new host can say which nameservers to enter.

A worked example

An ice supplier in the Okanagan delivers bagged and block ice to bars, caterers, fish counters and summer events. Most orders arrive by email, many on hot afternoons.

In June its site moved to a new host with a fresh design. The old account was kept for a few weeks, then cancelled on a Friday.

By Saturday morning the site would not load and emailed orders had stopped arriving. The owner found out when a caterer phoned to ask whether the business had closed.

A whois lookup showed the old host's nameservers. Records there had been edited to point at the new server, and they vanished with the account.

The records were rebuilt at the new host, mail servers and sender records included, and the nameservers were changed at the registrar. Site and email returned as the change spread.

The owner now keeps one page listing the registrar, the nameservers and the host, and who holds each login.

Waiting for the change to spread

A nameserver change is not instant. Servers around the internet remember old answers for a set time, usually a few hours and sometimes up to two days.

Until then, some visitors reach one server and some the other. Mail can arrive at either, so the old account has to stay open through the change.

Keep the records identical at both companies meanwhile, so visitors get the same site and mail goes to the same servers whichever company answers.

Mail left in the old mailboxes

Email delivered to the old server during the changeover sits in the old mailboxes, and office programs set up for the new server never see it.

Before closing the account, check the old webmail, or have the old host confirm the mailboxes are empty, and copy across anything that arrived late.

If staff kept years of mail on the old server, move that too. Cancelling the account deletes it.

When the old host is also the registrar

Many hosts register domains too, sometimes as part of the hosting account. Cancelling it can leave the domain with a company you no longer deal with, or let it lapse.

Move the registration to a registrar you control before cancelling. A transfer needs the transfer lock removed, an authorisation code from the current registrar, and an administrative email address someone still reads.

Transfers can take several days, so this step comes first, well before anything at the old host is switched off.

The counter-case

If the new host already runs the nameservers, or the records sit with your registrar and were updated there, cancelling the old account changes nothing visitors see.

Some hosts also leave a closed account's records in place for a few days, which only hides the problem until a busier day.

So the check is worth making even when the move seems finished. It takes minutes, and whoever handled the move can confirm the answer in writing.

Before the old account closes

  1. Look up the domain and note its registrar and nameservers.
  2. List every record the current nameservers hold.
  3. Recreate those records wherever the new nameservers are.
  4. Change the nameservers at the registrar.
  5. Wait two days, then test the site and the email.
  6. Copy the old mailboxes into the new ones.
  7. Cancel the old account only after all of that.

Step two gets left out when a move is rushed. A missing mail record never shows on the website, so a site that looks perfect can still be losing every order sent by email.

A related trap, an old server address left in records at the registrar after the host changes servers, is covered in when the host moves your account to a new server.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a registrar and a host?

The registrar holds the domain registration and sets its nameservers. The host runs the server with your pages and often your mailboxes. One company can do both.

What do nameservers do?

They answer for the domain, telling browsers where the website is and telling other mail servers where to deliver email. Whoever runs them controls those answers.

How can I see which nameservers my domain uses?

A whois lookup shows the registrar and the nameservers. Nameserver names usually include the name of the company that runs them, which is often a host.

Why did the site keep working for a month after the move?

The old host was still answering for the domain, with records pointing at the new server or at the old copy. Closing the account deleted those answers.

How long does a nameserver change take?

Usually a few hours, sometimes up to two days, because servers remember old answers for a set time. Keep the old account open until the change is complete.

What if the old host also registered my domain?

Transfer the registration to a registrar you control before cancelling anything. A transfer can take several days and needs an authorisation code and a working administrative email address.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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