Move
the site to the destination server
Move
the site to the destination server where it will be
accessible to your users. If availability is important for
your site, you will want to make this move during a low
usage time such as the middle of the night. If the files
will take some time to copy, you may want to take the
servers off the network temporarily so that the site is not
corrupted with a combination of old and new files.
Warn the people who frequently use the
site if your server is going to be down for any reason. You
may want to send these frequent users email. Another way to
inform users is for all links to go to a page that says the
server will be down until such and such a time.
Test
the site on the destination server
If
publishing your site means moving it onto a different server
than the one it was developed on, you should conduct quality
assurance and performance testing on the new server. The new
server may introduce new behaviors. Make certain that the
links work and that the scripts for forms work in the way
that you planned.
Make a
backup
Files
can become corrupted for any number of reasons (e.g. hard
drive crashes, actions by the server administrator,
malevolent hackers, etc.). Make a backup so that if
necessary you can restore your files to the server.