Moving servers

[Sapro]

Our current hosting sucks so we're moving to a new server this weekend. I've done enough moves in the past to know that something will almost always go wrong and I'm hoping to minimize the chance of this as much as possible. Here's what I'd like to do:

1) Set the system to some kind of offline or maintenance mode - is there such a thing?
2) Backup the database
3) Upload the database to the new server
4) Edit the config as needed for the new server (unless there's a way to do this automatically?)
5) Point the domain
6) Put the system back "online"

Fortunately I get copied on my piped email address so I won't lose any requests during the time this is offline.

So my questions are:

Is there an offline or maintenance mode setting somewhere? I can't find it in the manual.

Is there a shortcut or easy way to change the config so that it works on the new server?

Thanks in advance...

[craigbrass]

There isn't a turn offline feature. I usually just change the config.php file on the old server to stop it connecting to the database.

You need to edit the config file manually on the new server.

Other than that, the procedure sounds good.