1. After purchasing a web hosting plan, use the FTP information to begin uploading your website content (if any) via your favorite FTP utility or web authoring tool.
2. Login to your existing domain registrar and point the name servers (DNS) to your new server account. (The new server account information can be found in your activation e-mail sent by MediaCatch, and is usually something like "ns1.mediacatch.com, ns2.mediacatch.com"). The nameservers are like the telephone directory of the Internet - they are the servers that know the address of your website (domain name). Once your domain name servers have been updated, it will usually take between 2-48 hours for your domain to resolve to your new server account. This is because servers throughout the Internet that present web pages have stored (cached) old information, which will be made current on their next update. Update timing is determined by each regional Internet Service Provider independently, this is why updated information is available in some areas sooner than other areas.
If you are not transferring your domain name to MediaCatch, then you can stop here - you are done. If your domain name was already unlocked when you signed up for your MediaCatch hosting account, your WHOIS (registrant documentation) information associated with the domain name was correct when you signed up for your MediaCatch hosting account, and you selected the option to transfer your domain name to MediaCatch when you signed up, then you can skip to step 6 below to see what will happen next with your domain name transfer. Otherwise, please complete all of the following steps.
3. Login to your existing domain registrar again, if you aren't still logged in. Follow your domain registrar's procedure to unlock the domain. Registrar's lock domains to prevent unauthorized transfers. If it's not unlocked, the transfer will fail.
4. Check the WHOIS information associated with your domain name in your existing account. Make sure the email address associated with the domain name registration, as shown in the WHOIS information, is an address that you can access.
5. Send a message to sales@mediacatch.com indicating that you have unlocked your domain name, verified the WHOIS information, and updated the DNS (domain name servers) to point to your MediaCatch server (if desired), and you are therefore ready for MediaCatch to initiate the domain transfer.
6. MediaCatch will initiate the domain transfer, by contacting your existing registrar and requesting the transfer.
7. Your existing domain name registrar will check the lock status, and if the domain name is unlocked, you will receive an email from them asking you to approve the transfer. Often, this email will go into spam folders, so be sure to check there if you don't receive this message within a day. Since this email is usually automated, you should receive it shortly after MediaCatch requests the transfer.
8. After you approve the transfer (usually by clicking on an approval link in the email), your existing registrar will transfer the domain to MediaCatch. Note that by ICANN rules, they have up to 5 days to transfer the domain, and many registrars just let the 5 days elapse, after which the domain automatically transfers. Some domain transfers can take even longer, depending on the domain authorities policies. For this reason, you should NEVER let a domain transfer become urgent, and be sure to conduct steps 1 & 2 prior to initiating the transfer of your domain name.
If you have questions regarding how to change your name servers, please contact your domain registrar's support department.
