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Let's say I have a main domain xxx.com and due to migration that host is going offline end of April, now what I have done is, I have registered a new domain account xxx.net and have xxx.com forwarded to it which works well.
We however want the .com to be our main domain, i.e. can I leave the forwarding in place while I change .com domain's @ record to point to the .net server and will it propagate in "the background" and once that's completed I'll turn off the forwarding to .net. Or how else can I achieve that without rendering the .com unreachable?

This will all happen on GoDaddy servers.

EDIT 1(in reply to Rob-d's ANSWER #1)
Okay, so currently for the .net domain, I have NS39.DOMAINCONTROL.COM and NS40.DOMAINCONTROL.COM as nameservers where for the.com domain, I have NS07.DOMAINCONTROL.COM and NS08.DOMAINCONTROL.COM. What you are saying is, that my .com URL needs to point to the same nameservers as the .net URL, is that correct? Can I change this without the domain becoming unreachable?
Thanks!

EDIT 2 (in reply to Chrono124's ANSWER #2)
Thank you, well I'm using Linux hosting with GoDaddy and if my server was different than Apache, I would be surprised. Now since currently both URLs .com abd .net that is, refer to different IPs in the zone file, I imagine I should be fine to just sync them up. What concerns me is that when I enter the IP in my browser, I don't actually get to the website, http://97.74.215.143/ (.com) and http://97.74.215.143/ (.net). And for the hosting account, I get:

Nameservers
ns07.domaincontrol.com
ns08.domaincontrol.com
A Record(s)
97.74.215.143 
(Your site is Live)

for .com and

Nameservers
NS39.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
NS40.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
A Record(s)
23.229.134.198
Your site is Live)

for .net

2 Answers 2

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If we are talking about just a web address, then you should run the both systems parallel. Make your changes and allow DNS to propagate. After a sufficient amount of time turn off the retiring system and make sure everything is working properly to new server. Leave yourself some time before the retirement date just in case something goes wrong.

UPDATE: Perfect, since this is a webserver it's a very low risk change over. Really if you just leave both servers on and then point your .com address to the new host it will propagate and eventually everyone will be going to the new host. Usually at the most propagation can take 48 hours depending on you TTL, which I recommend setting as low as possible if you have a lot of records. You really don't have to worry about forwarding as long as you have both servers running. You should be perfectly fine with the plan you have set.

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  • Yeah, makes sense and to point my .com address to the new host, I just make sure that the @ record of the .com just looks like the @ record of the .net, and that should be it, right?
    – stdcerr
    Apr 10, 2016 at 21:24
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    @cerr that's correct the @ record should point to your new host. Now also, are you managing the web server? If so you need to make sure you have that domain address assigned to the correct web site on the web server. The process for that will vary based on what OS you are running and web server software like IIS, Apache, etc.
    – Chrono124
    Apr 10, 2016 at 22:01
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    @cerr clarification on the above statement. If you are using IIS then this would be called Bindings. The fact that you didn't do this for the xxx.net address I am guessing you only have one website on that host, in which case you do not have to worry about the Bindings. This is applicable if you are hosting multiple websites on one host. So don't be alarmed by this, just making sure you have all the based covered for a successful project.
    – Chrono124
    Apr 10, 2016 at 23:17
  • @chronmo124 please see EDIT 2 above
    – stdcerr
    Apr 10, 2016 at 23:53
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    @cerr Ok, so I have done some work with Linux/Apache web servers, but I am not an expert. With that being said though, is the host being managed by GoDaddy or do you manage the host. If its the former then usually GoDaddy will provide you an address to point your @ record and you upload the files the files to your host. Go Daddy has great customers service and can definitely help you achieve this. Now, if you are managing the host and you have multiple website on the host you will need to do your bindings properly, which I am not 100% sure how to do on Linux.
    – Chrono124
    Apr 11, 2016 at 1:17
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you will need to make the .net server the authoritative server for .com domain for that to work, otherwise when you turn the .com server off we wont be able to resolve your hosts.

this seems to be a good place to start https://ie.godaddy.com/help/change-nameservers-for-your-domain-names-664

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