IndieCommerce: Getting Ready and Going Live on Drupal 7

D7 Site Requests Now Available for Groups 1 and 2

Last week, Island Books of Mercer Island, Washington, became the first IndieCommerce store to go live on the Drupal 7 platform, and the IndieCommerce team now wants to hear from all IndieCommerce stores in either Group 1 or 2 that are ready to request a migration to Drupal 7. After reading the details in this week’s IndieCommunication, #10, stores should send an e-mail to [email protected] and they will be entered into the site queue on a first-come, first-served basis. A review of the steps and procedures for the migration is available here.

Your Website and an Internet Change of Address: A Call to Action

As sites are upgraded to Drupal 7, each store will be given a temporary web address to access its new website. While all of the Drupal 6 site’s content will be moved into the new website, the website itself is a new entity that “lives” in a different location.

When a store is ready to launch its Drupal 7 site, changes will need to be made to its domain to reflect the new location of the Drupal 7 site. In order to display the store’s new website on its pre-existing domain name (yoursite.com), the IP Address of the website will need to be updated with its DNS host.

Domain name hosts, often referred to with Domain Name Servers or “DNS,” are responsible for maintaining this kind of address information. About half of IndieCommerce stores use ABA’s DNS service, and for these stores ABA staff will perform the necessary changes to reflect their new IP Address.

As part of the “going live” process, stores that do not host with ABA will need to contact the company hosting their DNS (such as GoDaddy, Network Solutions, NameCheap) to make the necessary changes. Stores will not only need to provide their new IP Address to the DNS provider but a few additional steps will also be required to reduce down-time during the transition. Details of the full upgrade procedure can be found here.

While not required, all IndieCommerce stores are encouraged to host their DNS directly with ABA to minimize the number of steps and potential confusion. DNS with ABA also saves the store money since it’s included in the cost of IndieCommerce; however, booksellers should keep in mind that ABA does not provide e-mail hosting services.

Booksellers with questions about domains and hosting are encouraged to contact IndieCommerce staff at [email protected] to set up a time for discussion.

Stay Up to Date

The upgrade is well underway, and IndieCommerce staff continues to work on keeping everyone up to date on upgrade news. Stores are encouraged to sign up for Upgrade Update calls (every Tuesday or Thursday at 4:00 p.m. ET) with Member Technology Director Neil Strandberg.  

The IndieCommerce team is also rolling out a new ticketing system to organize its response to store inquiries. Booksellers should know that if they receive an automated response, IndieCommerce staff will get back to them shortly. The aim is to provide the most accurate and speedy responses during this very busy migration time.