Moving my website to a different domain on my host (Any tips?)

I am moving my test website to a different domain on the same host. I'm a little nervous that something may go wrong. Here are some things I did.

1.) I read the tutorial and saw the first step of changing the sessions. Not really sure what this is for. Is this super important? What may happen if it is left the same?

2.) I copied and pasted all my files through ftp to the new domain. I changed everything in the configure.php files. Is copying the files and keeping them on my test site instead of moving them a problem?

Can anyone that has moved their websites before throw out any more suggestions that can make this switch very smooth? Or possibly describe some problems that I need to look out for?

Thanks soo much!

Do you mean pointing your domain to a new domain, or installing on a different server?
If its the case of installing on a different server, then u need to re-install the programme, and update the configure files both in the admin folder and the includes folder

There's no problem with keeping everything on your test site. If the test site is pointing to the same database as the live site be careful because any changes you make on your test site will effect your live site as well.

Yes, I believe you do need to change the sessions. I'd have to read the tutorial again to be sure.

sfklaas:

Can anyone that has moved their websites before throw out any more suggestions that can make this switch very smooth?
That's precisely why the steps in the tutorial have been written in the manner posted: https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=100

Here is an update of how my transfer is going. After making changes to includes/configure.php and admin/includes/configure:

define('HTTP_SERVER', 'http://www.test_store.com');
define('HTTPS_SERVER', 'http://www.test_store.com');

and switched it to:

define('HTTP_SERVER', 'http://www.new_transferred_domain.com');
define('HTTPS_SERVER', 'http://www.new_transferred_domain.com');

I currently get the home page of the old store that the previous owner had for the domain. The web address in browser is correct (even with the correct address for maintenance: http://www.new_transferred_domain.com/index.php?main_page=down_for_maintenance&zenid=). If I switch it back to test_store, every time I type the new domain in my browser, I successfully get the test site.

Am I missing a step to successfully get my store up and running?

Also, I can't access the admin: www.new_transferred_domain.com/admin. it comes back with HTTP/1.0 404 Object Not Found

There's a very important reason for the Tutorial directing you to install a clean copy of Zen Cart on the new server: that is, to build the configure.php files UNIQUE TO THE NEW SERVER.
Almost everyone who skips that ends up posting here saying that their store and/or their admin won't work as expected. And every time it turns out that they've skipped editing certain parts of the files or they got confused making their manual edits. The zc_install takes care of building the files correctly, thus avoiding all those problems.

Additionally, when you follow the instructions and install a clean copy of Zen Cart FIRST, you get the chance to see whether the CLEAN Zen Cart install works easily on the new server. You can sort out any server-specific problems there, right then, before adding all the complexities of your own database and customized php files. And, in so doing, you make it a lot easier to get and give support for your issues.

When you choose to do it your own way, you should be prepared to troubleshoot it yourself too.

I thank you for replying. Yes, you are right. Installing a fresh new zen cart to the new server is the right thing to do. I guess the reason why I may seem like i'm ignoring the tutorials is because both zen cart stores (Test and new) are on the same server on my host. Just the domain was on a different host/server. I've just been confused, but now started to figure things out.

At the moment, it seems as if it is working. I think it may have had something to do with the propagation of the old website to the new website. It seemed like it kept switching between the two all evening and I thought it had something to do with the way I was editing the configure files. Hopefully this will stay as is.

DrByte

How about when the domain name is changed but the hosting for the zencart is still the same... would changing the server and catalog lines in configure.php in both admin\includes and \includes directories would do the trick or do I have to do a new install and import my database?

Thanks

Changing the configure.php files should do the trick. Check the tutorial Dr Byte posted.