This article provides the best way to move a domain between two (mt) Media Temple accounts. In this tutorial we will move mt-example.com between account A and account B. If you perform these steps correctly you should have little downtime.

Step 1: Make sure your website's software can run under account B

Are they both the same server type/version? If you are moving from one (gs) Grid-Service to another or  between like  (dv) services you should be fine.  You may need to account for site path changes, database connection strings, etc. in any other situation. For example, the (gs) Grid-Service may have a Rails container that would not run on a (dv) without significant changes to a stock (dv) configuration.

Step 2: Backup your Files

Before proceeding please make sure to preserve your site's content. These links might be of assistance:

• (gs) Backing Up Site Content
• How can I Backup and Restore a MySQL database?
• (dv) Backup Options
  

Step 3: Add the domain to Account B and upload your content

• (gs) Grid-Service: As the zone file for the domain is associated with a service on account A, you will NOT be able to add the domain(s) via the AccountCenter to Account B.
  

  • Open a Support Request asking to manually add the domain(s) to your (gs) Grid-Service on Account B as an alternate domain ONLY. The zone file should not yet be associated with the primary domain on this account.
  • Please reference that you are following Step 3 in KB Article 837.  Once the request is complete you may upload all your data, email, etc.
    
• (dv) Dedicated-Virtual Servers: Simply add the domain within Plesk and upload your content, or use the Plesk Migration manager to create the domain before adding your content.
  

Step 4: Verify the domain is displaying properly on Account B

(gs) Grid-Service customers can use the access domain to preview and test the domain. (dv) Dedicated-Virtual Server customers can use the default IP Address feature in Plesk to preview the domain.

Step 5: Move the DNS Zone File to Account B

Now that the verification is complete you can safely move the DNS zone with the following steps:

1. Sign into your (mt) AccountCenter on Account A.
2. Select your domain from the 'Domains' drop-down menu.
   
3. Click on 'Remove Zone File' to remove the zone file from Account A.
4. Log out of the AccountCenter and sign back into Account B.
5. Select "Add New" from the Domains drop-down menu.
6. Type in your domain name in the blank field, e.g. mt-example.com, not www.mt-example.com and check the option 'Add Domain to a new or existing service.'
7. Click Next. You will then select the new service on Account B and click Next again to finish.
   

You will now have a zone file on Account B for your domain.  Shortly thereafter all your traffic will now be routed to your new service. Please make sure all your content was moved properly, including your databases.

Step 6: (Optional) Move the Domain Registration to Account B

If you registered this domain with (mt) Media Temple, you will need to login to the AccountCenter for Account A and submit a Support Request requesting to have the registration moved to Account B. This will have no impact on your renewal date.

Revisions:

03-04-2010: Yet another article rewrite
06-10-2009: Article rewrite