MAKE THE MOVE / KEEP THE CONTEXT
Move the service, not just the files.
Record domains, authoritative DNS, web applications, databases, mailboxes, external services, certificates and scheduled jobs. Confirm account control and who can approve the move. Check licences, storage, software versions and the people who will use the result.
Prepare the destination and compare application behaviour using a controlled test route. Check authentication, uploads, forms, database writes and outbound email. Take a recoverable backup and prove that a representative restore works. Do not treat a successful file copy as application acceptance.
Review record ownership and any TTL changes in advance. DNS caches do not all refresh at the same moment. Preserve mail routing and agreed authentication records; plan mailbox synchronisation and the period in which old and new environments may both receive activity. Document which changes are required and which must remain untouched.
Agree a change window, responsible contacts, acceptance checks and rollback conditions. Consider data written after the first copy and how it will be reconciled. A rollback must account for new orders, messages or records, not simply point DNS back to yesterday’s server.
Confirm the application result, logs, backups, monitoring and support handover. Keep the previous environment for the agreed recovery period and restrict access appropriately. Retire it only after the responsible owner approves the result and retention requirements are addressed.
Plan a migration ↗