topic Re: Migrating a domain away from Pnet in Tech Help - Software/Hardware etc

Migrating a domain away from Pnet

greygit1 — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 20:54:15 GMT

I have a domain registered via Plusnet. The web content is static, low traffic. The domain also gets used for e-mail. All low traffic, but with multiple aliases. I have left the domain with Plusnet as they were paying the domain renewal charges and stuff continued to work. However, given the current changes going on at Plusnet Towers, I am now thinking it may be a good time to migrate that domain elsewhere (even if it costs me a little in domain registration).

However...

My research is throwing up possibilities but with escalating costs for each additional alias/mailbox when it comes to e-mail.

I'm prostrating myself at the feet of anyone who knows of a hosting soltion that could replace that which Pnet used to offer for non-businesses (i.e. effectively a catch-all for e-mail with the possibility of silently dropping some specific e-mail addresses).

Re: Migrating a domain away from Pnet

Penny — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 22:44:16 GMT

@greygit1 wrote:

I have a domain registered via Plusnet. The web content is static, low traffic. The domain also gets used for e-mail. All low traffic, but with multiple aliases.

I'd recommend Mythic Beasts - https://www.mythic-beasts.com/hosting - scroll down the page for details re e-mail including "Unlimited POP3/IMAP mailboxes".

So effectively will cater for multiple aliases, though there would be the requirement to actually add each individually, I'd think, rather than here (PN) where anything @ (your domain) gets through.

@greygit1 wrote:

the possibility of silently dropping some specific e-mail addresses

If you sign up at Mythic Beasts and start adding mailboxes, there's an option somewhere to

Add address
specific address @ (your domain)
default
This action will be used for mail to addresses at (your domain) that you have not defined an action for.
Action: Deliver
Discard
... if the latter selected
"Mail will be silently discarded. The sender will not be aware that the message has not been delivered."

I moved various domains there between May and August this year, domain renewal prices are about 50% lower than 123-reg, and the hosting has been trouble-free.

Their website takes some getting used to (took me some while to figure things out), but once you sign up for a hosting account, you can add your domain as a 'third party domain' so as to get everything set up well in advance of actually moving the domain across.

Hope this helps

Re: Migrating a domain away from Pnet

greygit1 — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 23:26:06 GMT

Something for me to consider. Thx.

(Manually adding the aliases isn't a big overhead from my persepective - it is something that has existed on Pnet services for some time.)

Re: Migrating a domain away from Pnet

greygit1 — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 01:10:31 GMT

For the sake of some money I registered a new domain with mythic beasts.

Manticore (a mythical beast) was already taken, so I went a bit scientific. A bit of a 'shell' account if you follow the language/gist.

Mail successfully sent to the account and retrieved. Sending from the account is a little more 'problematic' at the moment, But I'll get there.

Once at that place, I may have to migrate in the existing domain. But I'm quite taken with that new domain name. Being a bit of a man-tique.

Re: Migrating a domain away from Pnet

greygit1 — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 02:21:14 GMT

Looking back on 'pinned' posts...

As a "non-tech" person you've been very helpful. Well, to me, at least.

I can do TLAs (and FLAs, in both numerical incarnations). I can look at/into sniffed IPv4 packets. It can get a bit smelly, though. Sometimes even the best of M$ staff don't get their interpretation correct. Other around here know more about the vagaries of line attentuation when it comes to things like ADSL

And my brain used to explode when confronted with BGP routing tables. And that was with the much more simpler IPv4 tables.

For the (more) technically minded people, Try identifying a network problem that involves a failing piece of layer-1, un-managed network kit. Here be dragons...

Re: Migrating a domain away from Pnet

MisterW — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 06:25:58 GMT

So effectively will cater for multiple aliases, though there would be the requirement to actually add each individually, I'd think, rather than here (PN) where anything @ (your domain) gets through.

@Penny you can have a 'default' alias which is the same as the PN catch-all. In fact its better than PN in that you can also have wildcards in alias names, so you have a 'catch many'😀

If you need to create lost of aliases ( I did when moving my domain from PN ) then you can automate it somewhat. The aliases are configured using standard EXIM .forward files ( its explained here https://www.mythic-beasts.com/support/hosting/mail/advanced ) so you can create them on a PC and FTP them to your Mythic account. Tip, create an alias manually, ftp it to a PC , edit it and ftp it back. In my case I had all the aliases in a spreadsheet , a macro created the .forward files and I ftp'd them down. Job done!

@greygit1 another advantage of Mythic is that not only can you have multiple mailboxes but you can host multiple domains for no additional cost ( subject to total space usage ).

Sending from the account is a little more 'problematic' at the moment, But I'll get there.

Shout up if you need help, I've been using Mythic for a year or so...

Re: Migrating a domain away from Pnet

Penny — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 20:20:04 GMT

@MisterW wrote:

another advantage of Mythic is that not only can you have multiple mailboxes but you can host multiple domains for no additional cost ( subject to total space usage ).

... yes, I'd forgotten to mention that aspect - hosting additional domains on a single hosting account. Or the https:// hosting at no extra cost. That last (for me) was what finally tipped the balance in moving several domains, the need to have https:// addresses to avoid the endless 'not secure' address-bar labels.

@MisterW wrote:

@Penny you can have a 'default' alias which is the same as the PN catch-all. In fact its better than PN in that you can also have wildcards in alias names, so you have a 'catch many'😀

If you need to create lost of aliases ( I did when moving my domain from PN ) then you can automate it somewhat. The aliases are configured using standard EXIM .forward files ( its explained here https://www.mythic-beasts.com/support/hosting/mail/advanced ) so you can create them on a PC and FTP them to your Mythic account. Tip, create an alias manually, ftp it to a PC , edit it and ftp it back. In my case I had all the aliases in a spreadsheet , a macro created the .forward files and I ftp'd them down. Job done!

Thank you for the clarification however. I looked at the referenced page and it's like total-shutdown (mentally). I seemingly can't "do" techy stuff, or only in some very limited way.

Years back, I couldn't figure out how to do the F9/PN mailbox set-ups (massively simpler by comparison I'd guess) and @jelv kindly wrote an "idiot's guide" with all the individual tiny steps identified, so that I could set things up for the happychild.org.uk domain (at F9 as it then was, I think).

From what you've written above, the Mythic Beasts set-up for e-mail looks very comprehensive but so far outside my comfort zone that I'm probably not going to even try to explore it any further.

If that sounds defeatist, I should maybe explain here that my current challenge is to cause an (online) form to submit itself daily (end-of-day stats) to add an entry to a mysql table.

I made the form some weeks back - and it *works* if I'm here to call up the form and click 'send' at the end of each day - but haven't got beyond that nor even found out how/where to put cron files (yet). MB works (well) for me, for the hosting, but figuring out how to do things, or how to upgrade php scripts for the newest version, somewhat more challenging Brilliant for techy people, though.

Re: Migrating a domain away from Pnet

MisterW — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 15:53:21 GMT

I looked at the referenced page and it's like total-shutdown (mentally). I seemingly can't "do" techy stuff, or only in some very limited way.

@Penny no offence, but the page ref was aimed more at @greygit1 . You're probably best sticking with using the online email address creation but you can still use the 'xxx-anything' wildcard format in the email address to do a 'catch many'

Re: Migrating a domain away from Pnet

greygit1 — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 21:06:01 GMT

I'm happy with Penny jumping in and recommending mythic beasts.

Perhaps I've inadvertently stirred up something. Not my intentions. So I apologise unreservedly

The basic(?) web interface is better than Plusnet's. Their hierachical structure of account names and passwords was a bit of a leap for me. I now understand how it is (and, more importantly, perhaps why). It is a bit like "whoa!!". (I've been away from the sharp end of IT for over a decade).

I now have to read quite a bit on exim.

So thumbs up for all?

Re: Migrating a domain away from Pnet

MisterW — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 06:46:47 GMT

Perhaps I've inadvertently stirred up something. Not my intentions. So I apologise unreservedly

@greygit1 no you haven't and no apologies are neccessary.

Most of the SU group are technically orientated and we sometimes forget that @Penny isnt!. On the other hand she gives us an extremely valuable non-technical view on many things.