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I help manage a website. Its domain is currently registered to Network Solutions. They also provide web forwarding to our website (e.g., example.com → example.webhosting.com). I'm in the process of moving the domain registration to Google Domains, which also does web forwarding.

Problem: So far as I can tell, I can't set up Google Domains forwarding until the registration process is complete. As soon as that happens, Network Solutions will (reasonably) stop web forwarding. I can then presumably set up Google Domains web forwarding; but until I do, our website will be unreachable.

How can I keep our website available through this transition?

FYI:

  • If it matters, Network Solutions uses HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently; Google Domains will use HTTP/1.1 302 Moved Temporarily.
  • I want to continue using the same website hosting company.
  • I want to use the same provider for DNS hosting as for domain registration.
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    For the record, I am not a big fan of these forwarding services. Some of our users have had problems with them and it has left a bad taste in my mouth. Often, it is recommended that a web space be created for the site you want forwarded and use (assuming Apache) .htaccess (or an equivalent) to forward the one site to the other however you want to do it. Otherwise, you may be stuck with the outage for a period. It would only be a short while for most users and only an inconvenience and not a tragedy.
    – closetnoc
    Apr 29, 2016 at 14:28
  • @closetnoc, that's also the advice I've gotten elsewhere (after posting this question here). It's probably the right solution. Thanks.
    – user10543
    Apr 29, 2016 at 14:35

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You are right that once the domain is transferred Network Solutions would stop serving it, however having said that while the transfer is pending they will continue serving it. The process is designed so that downtime is minimised and preferably non existent. Now not having worked with Network Solutions specifically I can't be sure about their specific policies, however most that I have worked for in the past have continued to maintain the service for up to a week after the transfer has completed in order to give the global DNS network time to propagate the changes and query the new provider. What I have generally done in the past has been to sign up with the new provider and start the transfer process, and while the transfer is pending add the records straight away so that once they come online it will work straight away., but even if it doesn't allow you to do that as long as you monitor it and do it for a low traffic time for your site you should still be able to achieve low downtime by watching for when the transfer completed and adding the appropriate records straight away. In the mean time while the transfer is going through, and more than likely for at least a few days after, Network Solutions should continue to keep the registration running while the remaining connections stop coming in and start going to Google Domains instead.

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