WDH-059 Websites, Domains & Internet Infrastructure
Can a website move between home hosting and commercial hosting?¶
Yes. Websites can move between residential, shared, VPS, cloud and dedicated hosting. The current setup may not reflect the relevant period.
Build a hosting timeline¶
Useful sources include:
- historic DNS;
- registrar and nameserver changes;
- dynamic-DNS updates;
- hosting account creation and cancellation;
- VPS or cloud provisioning;
- backups and migration files;
- support communications;
- payment history;
- server logs; and
- certificates.
Persistent identifiers such as administrator credentials, analytics IDs, content or payment systems may support continuity across moves.
Be cautious: a later host may contain only a copied site, and a domain may have changed operator.
Key takeaway
Investigate the infrastructure serving the site at the relevant time and use historic records to test continuity of control.