My client would like to change domain names. They're renaming their company, so the domain name will change accordingly. What's the best way to go about this? Their current site is hosted at Managed.com. The new site will be the same as the old one. The client would like to make the logo changes and any other content changes off-line somewhere and then publish the new site on the new domain name. At that time, the old domain would be set to forward to the new one.

Is there a step-by-step guide for this anywhere? Can I do just one 301 redirect at the top level domain? Is there a way to do that 301 redirect within DNN?

What am I not thinking of?

Thank you!

Changing the name is fairly simple:

1. Add a "Site Alias" in DNN with the new domain name (Site Settings, Advanced Settings, Site Aliases
2. Add the new URL as a "Site Alias" in the Managed.com control panel.
3. Update the DNS for the new URL to point to the IP of your DNN installation.

If there are changes to be made to the content, such as the Logo, etc then you can make those changes either on the production site, or on a copy of the production site. If the latter, you will have to upload the changes at the appropriate time.

You may also want to go to the Site Alias part of DNN and make the new URL the primary one, and also the the Site Alias Mapping mode to redirect to the new primary URL.