The migration of your applications often feels like a big and exciting step. No worries. At Shock Media, we handle the most diverse migrations almost daily. From complex SaaS applications to migrations with large volumes for Digital Agencies. At Shock Media, we take the burden off you during this process, so you can focus on your work. We are happy to explain how we prevent customers from facing surprises and how we properly approach such a technical operation. In this blog, we look back together with Reinier Sierag, co-founder of Kobalt, on their recent migration.

Preparation & communication

The entire collaboration and technical operation of a hosting migration starts with good preparation. Good communication is essential and therefore plays a major role. During the preparation, everything must be clear for both parties. Which websites, webshops, or web applications are active? Which configurations have been built over the years and how is everything set up? But also where the DNS is hosted and who has access to it is important to have clear. Good coordination and preparation

At Kobalt, they worked smartly and effectively with an internal project plan. In addition, together with Kobalt we documented agreements, dependencies, and risks. The project had one main responsible person who made and guarded the expectations, planning, and final decisions. The technical executor was responsible for all technical aspects. Administration & management handled the contracts, rights, and DNS, taking into account notice periods and documentation. Finally, one person was responsible for communication towards customers.

What should you take into account before you start migrating?

Prior to a migration, it is always wise to keep the broad impact in mind. Having a tight planning so customers do not notice anything is important, yet you will often still encounter questions from the customer. You do not have to justify the choice for a new hosting partner, but customers certainly appreciate a good explanation. Especially when it has additional benefits for the customer. A new hosting environment often offers new tooling, better performance, more security, and extra features, by including this in your communication you create more understanding and enthusiasm with your customer. After all, you are switching to Shock Media for a good reason.

Shock Media fully relieves you during the migration

At Shock Media, we relieve you during the migration, so you can focus on your work. We start with trial migrations and optimizations. In doing so, we go through all the steps of the final migration, but not yet the DNS switch. After this test migration, it is your task to thoroughly test the application at the new location. If everything functions as desired, we then carry out the actual migration.

During the migration of Kobalt, we worked with ProxyPass. A technique where one server at the previous hosting provider forwards incoming requests to the new environment at Shock Media.

Because current visitors are redirected, the dependency on a DNS change is removed and migrations do not experience unnecessary delay or downtime.

The migration with Kobalt

Went smoothly. Good preparation, clear division of tasks, good communication, controlled execution, and realistic expectation management led to a successful and pleasant collaboration.

Need help with migration?

As a managed hoster, we are happy to assist you. Do you have questions regarding migrations and how to approach this in the best way? Then contact our support department.