Domain transfer affecting 50+ users

[Ceefla]

Hi,

Our current  domain provider is shutting down and we need to move to GoDaddy in the next few months - that's the easy part.

The setup is a bit more complex:

• Provider A is who we pay for our .com domain
• Provider B hosts our DNS (Provider A points to their name servers)
• Provider C hosts our website

Don't ask why it's like this as it was set up before my time  

Ideally I'd like to replace A and B with just GoDaddy but I'm concerned about downtime for our company as we have over 50 users on Office 365 so the DNS is heavily customised for this.

As we  really need to minimise downtime does anyone have any suggestions? Has anyone done anything similar in the past?

Thanks in advance!

[MrVapor · Accepted solution]

Hey there, @Ceefla 

You'll probably be okay with a minimal downtime as long as all the information in the DNS zone file is correct. Propagation times can take 24-48 hours but they're usually done within 15 minutes or so. Just make sure the cutover is in the middle of the night or your least busy time and you should be fine.

[MrVapor · Accepted solution]

Hey there, @Ceefla 

You'll probably be okay with a minimal downtime as long as all the information in the DNS zone file is correct. Propagation times can take 24-48 hours but they're usually done within 15 minutes or so. Just make sure the cutover is in the middle of the night or your least busy time and you should be fine.

[Nate · Accepted solution]

I believe you can set-up the DNS hosting first, with all of the records you need.  Then switch the nameservers at your current registrar if you can.  After that transfer the domain.  Wait a day or two between each of these steps.  In theory if the old and new DNS zone file have identical records the switch should be seamless.

https://www.godaddy.com/help/add-dns-hosting-20165?