Domain transfer

Moving a domain to CloudMagnus from another host doesn't require transferring registration. You only need to point the existing domain's DNS at our IP. Most customers leave the domain registered where it is.

The two scenarios

Just moving the hosting (recommended)

Your domain stays registered at Cloudflare or Namecheap or wherever. You just change the A record to point at our IP. Five minutes of work; the only downtime is whatever DNS propagation costs you.

Steps:

  1. Add the site in the CloudMagnus dashboard. Wait for the provisioning page.
  2. At your DNS provider, change the A record for the bare domain (and www) to the IP shown on the provisioning page.
  3. Wait for DNS to propagate. The provisioning page polls and advances automatically.
  4. Once the site shows live, your old host is no longer serving any traffic.

Lowering the TTL first (recommended for production sites)

If your existing A record has a high TTL (1 hour, 24 hours), drop it to 300 seconds at least 24 hours before the move. That way, when you change the IP, resolvers around the world drop the old cached value within five minutes instead of an hour or a day.

What about email?

If your domain is also handling email (MX records pointing at Google Workspace, Fastmail, etc.), do not touch the MX records. Only change the A records. Your email keeps working.

If your old host was also handling email and you're moving fully off them, you'll need to set up email separately (Google Workspace, Fastmail, ProtonMail, whoever you prefer). CloudMagnus doesn't host email.

What if I want to actually transfer the registration?

Domain registration transfers (moving the domain itself to a new registrar) are unrelated to hosting. CloudMagnus isn't a domain registrar. If you want to consolidate, transfer the domain registration to Cloudflare Registrar or Namecheap; the hosting changes don't depend on it.

Common gotchas

"My old host shows the site is still working"

That's because their server is still up and someone's DNS still points at them. Once your A record change propagates everywhere, traffic stops reaching them. Their site doesn't go down; it just stops getting visitors.

"I see two versions of my site"

You're in the propagation window. Different ISPs see different cached A records. Some hit the old host, some hit us. Resolves itself within minutes for most cases (longer if your old TTL was high).

"My SSL warns about the wrong certificate"

Probably you're hitting the old host's cached A record but their cert has expired or doesn't match. Hard-refresh, clear DNS cache locally, or wait. Once propagation completes you'll consistently hit our cert.

"What about Cloudflare proxy?"

If your DNS is at Cloudflare and the proxy (orange cloud) is on, traffic goes Cloudflare → us. SSL termination happens at Cloudflare; we still need our own LE cert for the back end. Toggle the cloud to grey for the initial DNS verification + SSL issuance, then re-enable proxy if you want it.