Hosting Setup & Installation

Q: What is included with my free hosting setup?

A: As part of your free hosting setup, AspDotNetStorefront will create your hosting account on our production servers and provide you with the following:

• FTP access – To upload site files to your website
• SQL Access – To run queries on your database
• Dedicated IP – To change your DNS records
• SQL information – To use in your web.config

Q: If I chose the installation option with hosting, what is included with my free setup?

A: As part of your free installation setup AspDotNetStorefront will install the version you have purchased on our production servers according to our setup document here.. We will also create a Super Admin user account on your new site using the email address listed on your order. We suggest you review our GoLive checklist and our security best practices before starting to take orders on your site. AspDotNetStorefront will perform any of the security related tasks on your site at no charge upon request. Please submit a Help Desk ticket to get further assistance with the security setup on your site.

Q: What is NOT included in the setup of Hosting or Installation?

A: Hosting setup & software installation does not include:

• Migration of an existing site from another host
• Software upgrade from a previous version
• Application configuration (product/category setup, payment gateway/shipping configuration, SMTP/Email Settings etc.)

Q: How do I transfer my AspDotNetStorefront site to a new hosting provider?

A: We recommend the following steps be taken to transfer the hosting of an AspDotNetStorefront site (steps may vary for your particular situation):

1. Make sure that your web.config is NOT encrypted.
   • If it is encrypted, you will be unable to make the necessary database connection changes when the site is transferred to the new server. You may need to have the current site host allow Read/Write/Modify permissions on your {root} folder for the .NET user account before you can decrypt the web.config file.
2. Set up a maintenance page on the current server.
   • This prevents any changes from occurring while the site is being transferred: details here
3. Backup the website files, database, SSL, and 3rd party components.
   • Copy the website files, backup the database, export the SSL certificate, and backup other necessary 3rd party components from the current hosting account. You should end up with all the files from the /wwwroot (or your home directory), a database backup, an SSL export, and your 3rd party components.
4. Import the backups onto the new server.
   • Follow the new installation instructions to install your new site, but use the website files and the database backup from your old server instead of the AspDotNetStorefront intaller. Import your SSL certificate and install any additional 3rd party components.
5. Configure your website on the new server.
   • This may involve changing the web.config to point at the new database location, updating your email settings, setting up permissions, etc.
6. Point the DNS records to the dedicated IP address for your site on the new server.
   • Once the DNS has propagated, your site should be running live on the new server.
7. Additional steps may apply if you have multiple services with your existing hosting company, or if you have additional hosting needs.

Q: Can AspDotNetStorefront assist me with transferring my website to one of your hosting plans?

A: If you would like to do the transfer yourself, once the AspDotNetStorefront hosting plan has been purchased from our website, we will send you a Welcome Email with the details about your new account including:

1. The FTP information that you can use to upload your backups.
2. The dedicated IP address information needed to update your DNS.

Simply upload your backups using the FTP information and open a Hosting Help Desk ticket to have the backups imported and your site setup on the new hosting account. Once it is running on the new account, you can update the DNS “A” records with the new dedicated IP address to take the site live on our servers. We would be happy to provide additional assistance for transferring your SSL certificate and DNS records if these are currently controlled by the hosting company you are leaving.

We also offer a Managed Hosting Transfer service that is billable by the hour. We will evaluate your specific hosting situation and perform the transfer of your existing site with minimal downtime and no loss of data. A typical hosting transfer can take between 2-4 hours per site, depending on the size of the site files and database, and other components. Please contact us to schedule your Managed Hosting Transfer or if you have any questions regarding the process.