Topic: Redirecting to a new server

[Mike]

So I'm gearing up to move our crappy internet pages to my nicer intranet pages which are on a different server.  I'm making directory structure changes in the process also.

Once I have the new pages finalized I'm gonna redirect the old pages to the new pages.  That i can handle.  What I'm trying to think of is this:
I want to be able to have some type of banner that says something like "We have moved servers.  Please update your bookmarks."  Now I can easily add a get variable to the redirect and look for that but then I'm afraid that they'll bookmark the page with it there which I obviously don't want.  It doesn't seem that redirecting and passing POST data is allowed so that is out.

I'm thinking that I can check the referer and see if it is the old server but that isn't 100%.  All the new files include a single template file so I can do the processing there for instead of having to do it in each file.

Anyone have any better ideas?

[ober]

Replace the files on the old server with a simple "we have moved" page.  Give them a link to the new site and tell them to bookmark it.  They'll hit it once and never do it again.

[Mike]

Oh sorry, should have said I won't do that, nor will I do meta redirects.  I don't believe in making people just through extra steps just because I moved the data.  Meta redirects I won't do because they are evil.

[ober]

The manual step is a one time pain... avoiding it will only make the people lazy because they can still use the old bookmark to get to where they need to go.  Trust me.  I've been down this path.  Make it a touch harder and save yourself headaches down the road.

[hans]

Do you really think people are going to upgrade their bookmarks if you handle the redirect for them?

Oh, I chuckle at the faith in users people have. I'm with Ober on this one, if you want to make them upgrade the bookmarks, you're best off forcing them to do so, otherwise they're just going to keep going to the old bookmarks and let you move them around to where they need to be.

[Mike]

Eventually I will remove the redirect.  But I have to give them time to update their links.  When it is my fault I make it painless.  If they don't want to repay my kindness then they'll pay for it when the page disappears on their ass and all that is left is a link to the main page (not even the page they were looking for).

[ober]

I still think you're approaching this the wrong way.  Believe in my experience!

[hans]

It's half empty man, get used to it.

[Mike]

I still think you're approaching this the wrong way.  Believe in my experience!

Or you can try to understand where I'm coming from and try offering an actual solution.  I see what you are saying but I disagree with the approach.

[ober]

That's the only valid solution I have in your situation.

[Mike]

Ok found one solution: cookies.  While I am changing servers I'm only changing subdomains which means that I can create a cookie for the domain.  Give it a short expire time (thinking a couple of minutes or so) and it doesn't interfer much.

I figure after about a month I'll stop the redirect and just have a notice with the link.  Month after that I'll remove the site completely.

Edit:  Of course that time line will depend on my higher ups

[webwhy]

Can you provide more detail as to why you can't support the original URL?  What server software are you using?

[Mike]

Server from is running IIS and server to is running Apache.  The two servers are maintained by two different groups here.  My department doesn't have full run of either server so it would require changing it for one directory tree.  I know it is possible but given the politics here I would say it is infeasible.

[webwhy]

okay...shame since a dns change, an apache vhost, .htaccess file with mod_rewrite rules, and some planning would have made a change to URL unnecessary...

you should ask WTF your IT department is good for, if they can't cooperate with each other and work with developers in situations like this. 

[Mike]

Well only the server we are moving to is controlled by IT.  The one we are moving from has a history that seems... interesting and I'm not sure 100% what is going on with it.

edit:  TBH I'm not even 100% sure we've told all the higher ups or those running the current server that we are moving.