I feel like I have been away forever and yet, it’s only been just over two weeks since my last post. Have you missed me? I have missed you and blogging.
The reason for my silence is connected to Information Technology (IT) issues relating to this site. In the last few months, I have been looking at ways to expand my offering to learners like yourselves. This has involved looking at different ways of how to market myself, offer new courses and build my readership. A few weeks ago, it became clear that I needed to upgrade the package I have here on WordPress to accommodate the changes I want to make.
And that’s when the journey into the world of IT began for me. A journey that I normally try to limit to the bare minimum only to avoid getting totally confused and frustrated. However, every now and again the journey has to be taken and is, therefore, unavoidable.
I don’t know about you but I truly hate it when I have to deal with any IT or what I call ‘techie’ issues. Why?
Let’s take my recent experience.
Which package?
Once it was clear that I needed to upgrade my existing package I started looking at all the packages my self-hosting provider had to offer. My site is not hosted by Word Press but is hosted by a third-party provider– known as self-hosting. All websites need space on the Internet and web host providers offer you that space (what is known as web hosting).
Having chosen and paid for the package, I received an email confirmation of the purchase and I thought that the upgrade would be done automatically and quickly . Oh, how wrong was I! I should have known that in the world of IT, nothing is straightforward.
Migration
I discovered that the package I bought was separate to the existing one I had in that they were on two separate servers, in other words, on two separate computer programs. This meant that all the information or data ‘sitting’ in my existing package and server had to be transferred (migrated) to the new server. I had to submit a ticket to request for the migration process to commence (start).
So, I submitted the ticket and an automated (computer-generated) reply informed me that the process would take at least 72 hours or more to complete. In the meantime, I would not be allowed to add any content (information – new posts) to the site. I thought to myself, that’s fine, I can wait.
I was asked to provide my Word Press dashboard URL (Uniform Resource Locator) and username and password for my domain (English with a Twist). I was told I would be updated on the status of the migration process as it progressed. All fairly easy and I looked forward to a seamless (smooth) experience.
I should have known better!
After 5 days of silence with NO status updates and no replies to my emails, I contacted Customer Service first via LiveChat then via telephone. I was told that my ticket would be scaled up (make it more important) and I should see the process completed within 48 hours. Why is it always 48 hours?
Sure enough, I got an email within 24 hours informing me that the migration process was completed and all I needed to do now was to point my domain to the new server, update my DNS (Domain Name Server) and once DNS propagation was completed, start publishing again.
Point what? Update my what? Propagate my DNS? What language is this?
Help!!!
Fortunately, I have a talented brother who can translate IT-speak into the English Language.
He explained that pointing a domain simply means connecting your domain (website) to the IP (Internet Protocol) address of your website. All websites have an IP address which allows them to be identified. However, IP addresses are difficult for us humans to remember so domain names are used instead (For example, Google is easier to remember than its IP address 173.194.46.41). This is called DNS (Domain Name Service.)
DNS Propagation: If your domain has changed server (like mine with a new IP address), the other DNS servers around the world need to update their records. This process is called DNS Propagation and can take up to 24 hours to complete.
Dear readers, I do hope you’re impressed by my tech-savviness or by how tech-savvy I am!
This entire process took two weeks – so much for a seamless experience! It drove me nuts (crazy) but I’m glad to say it’s over. I can now re-start blogging and working on the next stage of my teaching and publishing journey.
Thanks for reading and see you next week.
If you enjoyed this post, please share it and don’t forget to subscribe to my blog for more weekly posts.
Ciao for now
Shanthi
