IT Question

[Black wallnut]

Background: For the last few years my site blackwallnutjigs.com has been hosted at 1planhost.com. Ownership of my host was transfered last spring and the 'service' went down hill in a never ending spiral! Thanks to research I've found that they also have not been honoring their money back guarentee. Boy do I wish I would have know about all this 2 months ago when i extended my agreement for 1 year!

Last month after having my site and email down for over three days I decided to get a new domain blackwalnutjigs.com and host it at Godaddy.com.

the questions:

1. can I use the old site and just insert some code to forward all hits to the new site and what would that code be?
2. if possible would this work for all files i.e. someone types in blackwallnutjigs.com/tenonjig.asp would it redirect to blackwalnutjigs.com/tenonjig.asp if I only have a /default.asp on the old server acting as a forward.

sorry if I'm not using the right terms but hopefully ya'll will understand my questions.

[Copper]

You simply need to replace your homepage file with another file that directs you to the new site. Usually the hompage file is called "index.html", but it might be different. Just add your website address to the code below, paste it into a new html document, rename it "index.html" and upload it to the old server (replacing the old homepage file). It won't work for links to pages in subfolders, however. Only the home page. Maybe someone else has a more eloquent way of forwarding. Here's what I have used in the past:

<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
<title>Please Wait</title>
<meta HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh"
CONTENT="0.001;URL=http://ENTER YOUR NEW WEBSITE ADDRESS HERE">
</head>
<body><FONT FACE="arial" SIZE="2">
Please Wait while you are redirected to the correct location of this web site........
<BR><BR>
If nothing happens, <A HREF="ENTER YOUR NEW WEBSITE ADDRESS HERE">CLICK HERE</A></font>
</body>
</html>

[DaveW]

You could try a response.redirect so that the URL redirection is done on the server end... that way, if the user clicks the Back button, they don't immediately hit a page that forwards them to your new URL again.

I'd imagine that you could use ASP to parse the path/file, and to remove the old host's www.whatever.com/ and replace it with the new host's www.newhost.com/ before redirecting - that would give you some smart redirecting...

edit: check this out for parsing the URL... http://classicasp.aspfaq.com/general...-of-a-url.html

edit: I'm not sure if classic(?) ASP is the same as ASP.Net, so this may or may not work... you could look into Request.ServerVariables("script_name") and Request.Querystring (of course, when redirecting, you'd have to stick a '?' in between the page and the query string...

[25]

If you are using a Linux box look into using Mod Rewrite.

[TJG]

You might want to try this. Replace your default.asp (what you appear to be using currently for your home page), you want to replace its contents with this asp code:

(this is for a Windows IIS server)

<%
Response.Status = "301 Moved Permanently"
Response.AddHeader "Location", "http://www.blackwalnutjigs.com/"
Response.End
%>

If you aren't using Windows IIS, Google "301 redirect" and you can find out instructions for your web server. Many of the articles will also tell you how this is the preferred way since it informs search engines of the permanent move.

Since you only appear to have a dozen or so pages you can reach from the home page/menus, and they are .asp pages as well, I would use a similar redirection to the corresponding new page, or you can redirect to the new home page, whichever you prefer. Redirecting to the new home makes it easier to maintain, but redirecting to the corresponding page saves the end user a click or two.

The new home page should probably let them know (at least for 6 months or so) that the URL has changed and they might want to update their bookmarks.


Tom Groll

[dlminehart]

You can arrange to host both your old and new URLs at your new site. This makes it simpler, should you really wish to use a new URL as well as changing hosting sites. Otherwise, you could just move the original URL to the new site.

[25]

You know, if you change the server where the Domain is pointing to you shouldn't have to redirect anything. You just have to change your name server. You may just have to contact the old company and get the to drop the domain.

[JamesDad]

Domain redirection

I use godaddy for my web sites too, and they are much more reliable than any other hosting provider I have used in the past. Good choice.

I saw that you already put your web page files on your new domain on godaddy. Putting up a page that redirects people to your new website name at your old web site will not help if your old provider goes down and there is no page to view to redirect anyone to your new site.

Move your traffic two ways - put a redirect page on your old site to your new site, as suggested by others below, by just modifying your existing main page - with your cool looking walnut background and other identifying information, but don't rely on that to drive traffic to your new site since it won't work if your old web site does not come up on the unreliable servers. Since your old site is unreliable, you really don't want to rely on redirection of any of the other pages to your new web site. If you really want to direct hits from that web site to your new one, all service providers I have used in the past have a way to redirect your URL to another URL by typing in another URL in a redirect form. Godaddy does [I redirect a couple of my domains to my hosting account at godaddy]. Check your old provider to see how they do it and enter in your new URL in the box where it asks where you want to redirect people. That would be simpler than trying to mess with active server page code.

Or, just look at your current hosting account at godaddy, get the names of their namesservers by clicking on your domain name and looking over to the right, then type those in at your domain registration page [such as registrar.com or whatever domain registration company you used, in the area that lists the nameservers that host your web page]. You can also get the name of your nameservers off of whois.net [I just looked up your URL there and found your nameservers listed]. Your registrar for wallnutjigs.com is listed as wildwestdomains.com. You will need the login information from your hosting provider so you can go there and change your nameservers, unless you were the one that registered and paid for your domain with them.
Computers are a tool, just like woodworking power tools. Let the tool serve you and work for you.

Use search engine submissions and email notifications to friends to let everyone know about your new URL. Godaddy has something you can use for that if you like it. Did you make a database of the people who have contacted you? If so, tell them about your new site name also.
Nice site. It would be better if it were less wordy on the main entry page - people want to get an idea of what you have in 6 seconds or less and it is necessary to wade through a lot of text to find out what you have.
Good luck!
JamesDad's mom
FYI - my sites are at www.LearnLiveBetter.com [helps parents help their kids learn better and live better]; www.HealthHeros.com [helps parents help their kids play and stay safer]; and www.MoneyMagnet.name [helps businesses grow their business]. All are education related - education is my thing.