Migrating domains with 1&1

Question

I currently have an old dedicated server with 1&1 and planned to get a Dynamic Cloud (even though it's not technically in the cloud) server with 1&1 still.

I have 26 domains, which all seem to be tied to my current dedicated server and so in order to cancel the old server once I migrate everything over, I also have to transfer all these domain names away from the old contract. Apparently this is going to cost me the annual charge for each one, potentially over £100.

Not only that expense, but I will also lose all email addresses/mail when I make the move and so any people that have email addresses will need to download all their email during the move.

This seems crazy!?! Is there anything I could be doing to avoid this headache? (other than not having touched 1&1 in the first place!)

Answer 1

It shouldn't be necessary to transfer the domain names! You might have to change the nameservers but that should be something you can do from 1&1's interface.

Transferring the accounts (website files, email etc.) really depends on what (if any) control panel you're using. 1&1 seems to standardize on Plesk so your question might be better phrased as "how do I migrate from Plesk version x to Plesk 10?" (which seems to be provided on their new package).

I'm not certain if this is your situation (server OS?, control panel?) and I'm not an expert in Plesk but there seems to ways this can be achieved from backing up accounts and restoring on the new server to using Plesk Migration Manager. Migrating accounts by clicking a few buttons in a Web interface would cause me a healthy amount of fear so make sure your backups are current.

Failing that, get on the phone with 1&1 and tell them you're desperate to move to their new server but you need some help with migrating the accounts. If they can't provide useful, informed guidance on your options then you really should consider moving to a new hosting company who can.