Launch prep checklist

[MirandaEcho]

• Reduce TTL times as much as possible
• Triple check we have all the access we need
  • domain registrar
  • drupal
  • cpanel
  • WHM
• Plan for archive site
• Finalize launch checklist
• Compile a list of 10-20 random URLs from the old site to test redirects right after launch
• Confirm hosting questions
• Confirm Michael as point of contact and timeline for launch

[MirandaEcho]

• double check subdomain for archive Drupal site
• Check for how to change Drupal sites domain name

[MirandaEcho]

• On Monday, Miranda should confirm with Michael that he is the point of contact Tuesday AM

[joshdarby]

Their domain is currently using custom nameservers, so when we go to switch the domain to flywheel we'll need to delete those (or set them back to the default) in order to be able to set the correct A and CNAME records.

[joshdarby]

@MirandaEcho reminder that we still need access to their WHM account. He gave us the wrong password when we spoke with him and he said he would send it later.

[joshdarby]

The internet says that in order to change the domain on the Drupal site, we'll need to...

• update the main cPanel domain in WHM https://hostadvice.com/how-to/how-to-change-a-domain-name-in-cpanel/
• change the $base_url variable in settings.php (and possibly some things in .htaccess?) https://www.siteground.com/kb/how_can_i_configure_drupal_to_use_the_server_url_instead_of_/

[joshdarby]

I can't figure out how to change TTL settings inside of their registrar (who also has 0 documentation) 😕 . @benlk could you try and take a look?

It's possible that the option isn't showing and won't show until the custom nameservers are removed.

[benlk]

As best as I can tell, we need to talk to whomever runs ns1.sfpublicpress.org and ns2.sfpublicpress.org, who is not the registrar

[joshdarby]

@benlk Wouldn't that not matter since we're going to do away with those when we point it to FW?

[benlk]

Without access to the custom nameservers, we can't decrease the TTL records served by that nameserver.

[benlk]

Aha.

$ dig @ns1.sfpublicpress.org sfpublicpress.org any

; <<>> DiG 9.10.6 <<>> @ns1.sfpublicpress.org sfpublicpress.org any
; (1 server found)
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 50801
;; flags: qr aa rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 11, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 3
;; WARNING: recursion requested but not available

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 4096
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;sfpublicpress.org.		IN	ANY

;; ANSWER SECTION:
sfpublicpress.org.	86400	IN	TXT	"v=spf1 +a +mx +ip4:199.38.114.9 include:_spf.google.com ~all"
sfpublicpress.org.	86400	IN	TXT	"google-site-verification=XBdMHEXzGRz4YIdDfVM1G-XkpDflYnh1UcW1heDsnPs"
sfpublicpress.org.	3600	IN	MX	5 alt1.aspmx.l.google.com.
sfpublicpress.org.	3600	IN	MX	5 alt2.aspmx.l.google.com.
sfpublicpress.org.	3600	IN	MX	10 alt3.aspmx.l.google.com.
sfpublicpress.org.	3600	IN	MX	10 alt4.aspmx.l.google.com.
sfpublicpress.org.	3600	IN	MX	1 aspmx.l.google.com.
sfpublicpress.org.	86400	IN	SOA	ns1.sfpublicpress.org. dnsadmin.server.sfpublicpress.org. 2020051301 86400 7200 1209600 86400
sfpublicpress.org.	86400	IN	NS	ns2.sfpublicpress.org.
sfpublicpress.org.	86400	IN	NS	ns1.sfpublicpress.org.
sfpublicpress.org.	14400	IN	A	199.38.114.9

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
ns1.sfpublicpress.org.	14400	IN	A	199.38.114.9
ns2.sfpublicpress.org.	14400	IN	A	199.38.114.10

;; Query time: 84 msec
;; SERVER: 199.38.114.9#53(199.38.114.9)
;; WHEN: Thu Jul 02 16:38:57 EDT 2020
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 454

Nameserver has same IP address as their present host.

The DNS admin interface is their cpanel, and the TTL is presently 14400

[benlk]

cPanel > Advanced Zone Editor > find the "sfpublicpress.org." A record and click "Edit" to open the form, make the change, then click "Edit Record" to confirm the changes.

Lowered to 3600 = 1h, on Monday we can drop it to 600 = 10m

There's a lot things going on on the present cPanel and host that need to be discussed with SFPP about if they want to abandon their current host, including the disposition of these second-level domains:

• webmail.sfpublicpress.org
• cpcontacts.sfpublicpress.org.
• whm.sfpublicpress.org.
• webdisk.sfpublicpress.org
• stage.sfpublicpress.org
• mail.sfpublicpress.org
• ftp.sfpublicpress.org
• the nameservers
• localhost.sfpublicpress.org, an A record which points to 127.0.0.1
• newsletter.sfpublicpress.org
• server.sfpublicpress.org
• _dmarc.sfpublicpress.org. a TXT record

There are also a number of third- and fourth-level domain names, including things like the SRV record for _autodiscover._tcp.newsletter.sfpublicpress.org.

[benlk]

Questions are:

• Are they actively using of those domains, or the services hosted at those domains?
• That cPanel is hosted at the same host as their current website. Do they have plans to migrate all the non-sfpublicpress.org-website services hosted at that host away from that host, before they cancel that hosting contract?
• Will they want to move nameserver services and DNS resolution to their current registrar, or are they also planning to move the registration of sfpublicpress.org and other domains to a different registrar?

[benlk]

Wouldn't that not matter since we're going to do away with those when we point it to FW?

@joshdarby @MirandaEcho tl;dr is that:

• we can not do away with the old nameservers, unless we're prepared to port all the extant records over to the registrar's DNS service
• the proper place to change the DNS for when we move sfpublicpress.org to Flywheel is cpanel, not the registrar
• if SFPP is using any of those services for anything, then SFPP is more shackled to their current host than we expected

[joshdarby]

Compile a list of 10-20 random URLs from the old site to test redirects right after launch

@MirandaEcho Here's a list of 20 random URL's. Out of the 20 tested, only 3 didn't work. 2 of those are because the URL's are really weird, for example:

• https://sfpublicpress.org/news-notes/2018-06/out-with-soda-juice-and-chocolate-milk-%E2%80%94-california-could-become-first-state-to-r
• https://sfpublicpress.org/news-notes/2018-05/forget-the-irs-%E2%80%94-independent-contractors-also-have-to-pay-taxes-to-the-city-of-sa

Note the incomplete words at the end of the slug and the em — dash

[joshdarby]

@benlk, @MirandaEcho and I spoke with Michael today about the questions regarding their existing subdomains and services on cPanel and their custom nameservers.

Long story short is they don't think any of those are actually being used, but they're going to take 1-2 months to go through them and migrate them as they see fit. They're fine with us updating the sfpublicpress.org domain via cPanel for now so that we don't need to mess with the nameservers.

[joshdarby]

cPanel > Advanced Zone Editor > find the "sfpublicpress.org." A record and click "Edit" to open the form, make the change, then click "Edit Record" to confirm the changes.

Lowered to 3600 = 1h, on Monday we can drop it to 600 = 10m

@MirandaEcho Are you ok with me lowering the TTL to 10m?

[joshdarby]

TTL has been lowered to 10m.

Also, here's a screenshot of how it currently is set up, just in case anything goes wrong tomorrow: