# IPs, Domains, and the actual files.... I think I'm doing unnecessary work **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 2, 2010, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ips-domains-and-the-actual-files-i-think-im-doing-unnecessary-work/548848 "2010-08-02T02:32:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2010, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ips-domains-and-the-actual-files-i-think-im-doing-unnecessary-work/548848/1 "2010-08-02T02:32:52Z")
I think I’ve been given bad information. I got a new server. Let’s call it the New Machine. The website, lets call it [rr.com](http://rr.com), is still where it always was: the domain registrar is pointing the domain at the Old Machine.'s nameservers, so the site is on the Old Machine. On the New Machine, I have a few other domains. Let’s call one of them [bozo.com](http://bozo.com). I uploaded all the files that make up the website on [rr.com](http://rr.com) to [bozo.com](http://bozo.com). They work just fine. So now I want the domain [rr.com](http://rr.com) to point to the files on the New Machine, currently residing under the domain [bozo.com](http://bozo.com), which is at IP 1.2.3.4 Because I’ve never done this before, and I didn’t wanna mess it up, i asked the folks at Godaddy exactly how I should go about doing this. They said I should set up [rr.com](http://rr.com) on the New Machine (meaning everything except the nameserver stuff- create the domain name and associate it to an ip) then move or copy all the thousands of files I just finished successfully copying to [bozo.com](http://bozo.com) FROM [bozo.com](http://bozo.com) TO the [rr.com](http://rr.com) IP in the NEW machine. (Which evidently involves, ideally, shell access and that’s been a pain in the ass that isn’t working, so I’m just going FTP) Then, when the files are all copied AGAIN, and I’ve gone through them and tested them AGAIN, THEN I can tell the registrar to point [rr.com](http://rr.com) at the IP on the new machine. Which will work, of course, i just think it’s too much. Can’t I jsut de-assign [bozo.com](http://bozo.com) from the IP where the files are and assign [rr.com](http://rr.com) to that IP? What’s to stop me? The files won’t go away…they are located on a machine which has the IP 1.2.3.4…they will still be there, right? ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2010, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ips-domains-and-the-actual-files-i-think-im-doing-unnecessary-work/548848/2 "2010-08-02T04:50:05Z")
I should mention up front that I’ve only ever managed a single domain – I’ve never dealt with GoDaddy, multiple domains, or any number of other possibly relevant scenarios. So there’s that – I’m hoping that if I get something wrong, someone will correct me. Now, please excuse me for saying so, but that’s a terribly confusing OP. Before posting anything else (I started a long reply – including a diagram! 🙂 – before realizing that this may be an easy question), let me ask two questions: 1. When you say, “_I got a new server_”, do you mean: (a) you actually own the hardware, (b) that you’ve rented space on GoDaddy’s server farm, or (c), that GoDaddy reserved hardware dedicated specifically to you? I suspect (b). 1. Do you still want the files from _[bozo.com](http://bozo.com)_ available? If not, then yes, they should (theoretically) be able to re-assign the IP address to _[rr.com](http://rr.com)_ (although it would take some time for the new assignment to propagate). ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2010, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ips-domains-and-the-actual-files-i-think-im-doing-unnecessary-work/548848/3 "2010-08-02T05:35:40Z")
Dedicated. And I’m just about to go ahead and do it and see what happens! ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2010, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ips-domains-and-the-actual-files-i-think-im-doing-unnecessary-work/548848/4 "2010-08-02T05:39:59Z")
So let me see if I understand… you have a website ([rr.com](http://rr.com)) that you moved to a new server (1.2.3.4) and new domain name ([bozo.com](http://bozo.com)). Now you want the [rr.com](http://rr.com) to point to 1.2.3.4 and you don’t care what happens to [bozo.com](http://bozo.com), since it’s just a name and all the actual files are safely on 1.2.3.4? If so, yes, simply making the DNS change should work fine as long as the files are in the right place (which they may or may not be, depending on how the server is set up. Sometimes virtual hosts put websites under their own folders, like /home/public\_html/www.rr.com/ and /home/public\_html/www.bozo.com/ and if that’s the case, you do want to make sure that /www.rr.com/ on 1.2.3.4 does indeed have the files, otherwise you’ll end up with a blank/placeholder/error page once the DNS changes (because all your files are still in the [bozo.com](http://bozo.com) folder). Shell access really is the best way to do this – spend 5 minutes learning to use Putty (on Windows) or the SSH command (on OSX) and then you can log in and rename the folder with one command (instead of downloading everything and uploading it again through FTP). During the DNS propagation period (it takes anywhere between a few minutes to a few days to spread across the world), you can also use the shell to make something called a “symbolic link” which will make a virtual [www.bozo.com](http://www.bozo.com) folder that redirects to [www.rr.com](http://www.rr.com), so visitors to [bozo.com](http://bozo.com) don’t get left in the dust. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2010, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ips-domains-and-the-actual-files-i-think-im-doing-unnecessary-work/548848/5 "2010-08-02T14:11:38Z")
If your webserver (probably apache) is set up correctly, it won’t work. You have a new webserver hosting [bozo.com](http://bozo.com) among other domains - these will be set up as virtual domains. If [bozo.com](http://bozo.com) is not the primary name of the new machine, apache uses virtual domain names to sort out which domain http requests are for. Requests for [rr.com](http://rr.com) will hit apache, apache will not recognise the domain, and try to deliver files from the primary domain (based on IP address). If these are not found, you will be returned an HTTP 404 error. You need to rename the virtual domain, or create [rr.com](http://rr.com) and copy the files (via shell, as noted above). Si