Prior to launching a website it is critical to follow these steps for a successful launch.  Please keep in mind that every single client will be completely different in how their website is set up.  The following are absolutely mandatory steps to a proper site launch.

Step 1: Contact the client and arrange a 10 minute phone call with whomever handles their internal technology. When asking to arrange the meeting tell them you are looking for the person or external IT person who manages both their DNS and email.  This is the person we need to talk too.  Also make sure you ask them prior to the meeting if they are running a Microsoft Exchange server.  It's important to know this prior to the 10 minute tech meeting.

Step 2: Is the client running an Exchange server?  If yes then the 10 minute meeting is important, see steps below on setting up the meeting.  If the client is not running on an Exchange server then you can still have the meeting with their IT person but all you will be doing is going over how to set up email accounts on the server and telling them what their DNS servers are for site propagation.

Step 3: When sending out the meeting invite you should be inviting the client to a GatherPlace session so that you can show the client the server screen that displays their DNS settings.  All you are doing in this meeting is allowing the client to view the DNS settings and make any necessary changes to the DNS.  IMPORTANT: If the client does NOT have an Exchange server then you probably don't have to show them the DNS settings and you can go right to the Email section of the server and talk to them about their plan for setting up the email accounts. 

NOTE: You will need to arrange one of our technology people to be in the 10 minute meeting so that they can get to the following Rackspace screens.  Only Harold, Ryan, Dan and Chris have access to the sites manager of Rackspace. This password is not to be passed around as it will create a vulnerability to all of our client sites.

	If you need to show the client the DNS. This is the screen they should be looking at. You should be in GatherPlace with the client and their IT person at this point.  Let the client and IT person tell you how they want the DNS settings to be set. This takes all the responsibility off virteom and puts that on the client.  If the client does not have an exchange server you do NOT need to show them this screen. Click the screen on the left to view a larger image.
	If the client claims that they do have an Exchange Server you will want to confirm with them that we should remove the local Rackspace mail server from their account. See line highlighted in red to the left. IMPORTANT: virteom's experience is if you leave this server on Rackspace the clients Exchange server will have intermittent issues. Just click the check-box to the right of the mail server and click 'delete selected'.  Ask the client if they would like anything else modified, added or removed on this step. Click the screen on the left to view a larger image.
	Skip this step if the client has an Exchange Server This step is only important if the client does NOT have an Exchange server.  You will simply explain to the client that after the call you will provide the client with account access to their email manager where they will be able to set up email accounts.  You can walk them through an example of how an email account could be set up.  For a completely seamless transfer advise to the client that if they can keep their employees usernames and passwords the same there will not be any disruption in their email.  If they add their employees usernames and passwords to Rackspace and they are different then they will need to make sure that their employees use the new emails and passwords in their Outlook accounts, iPhones and so on. Click the screen on the left to view a larger image.
	Skip this step if the client has an Exchange Server This step is only important if the client does NOT have an Exchange server. You can tell the client that they can manager their own email accounts if thy just visit the website address: https://www.websitesettings.com/Login.do To find their username and password to this account you will need to click on the 'Clients'  button on the left menu and then navigate to the clients account.  On the first screen you will see a Show button for the password.  Click on that button.  You will need to re-enter the virteom main account password to view.  Give this username and password to the client along with the hyperlink above.  They will be able to log in and see the email settings you had previously showed them and manage their account. Click the screen on the left to view a larger image.
	Finally, make sure that their IT person knows what the new DNS settings are so that when virteom gives them the green light to switch the DNS they have that information to do so.  virteom does not have any control over switching the DNS settings of our clients and this is their sole responsibility to do so.  So having the IT person on GatherPlace during this meeting is important. You can find the DNS settings on the Domain tab in Rackspace right at the top of the screen.  Under most circumstances it should be dns1.stabletransit.com and dns2.stabletransit.com but make sure to always check. Click the screen on the left to view a larger image.

Once you have made it through all of these steps you are done with the client.  You will really want them to dictate how they want the settings as you go through these screens with them so that they claim full responsibility if something goes wrong after launch. Try not to lead them and let them advise you.

You can also advise the client that if they need support outside of normal business hours they can directly contact Rackspace for issues pertaining to DNS and mail. Just give them Rackpace's number: 1-877-934-0407 as one more precautionary measure.

IMPORTANT:  Make sure that you clarify with the client that just because you have given them the DNS servers above, that they should not go into their DNS accounts, such as Godaddy and make any settings until you give them the green light to do so and it is on the designated day that you agreed to launch the site.  We always advise that 4:00pm on a Friday is the best time for launch because it will have minimal interruption with emails.  It can also take up to 48 hours for everything to transfer so the weekend is a nice time to do this.

TECHNICAL NOTE: If the client does have an Exchange server and you disable the Rackspace mail server as noted above thw CMS will not be able to communicate to the outside world with it's form system.  You will need to create a separate domain for the client and set up a mail server to be configured for the CMS.  As an example.  If you have a client with the domain www.iqs.com and they have an Exchange server you will want to obtain a new domain name from Godaddy like iqsmail.com and create a small rackspace account and run the mail server on that account.  Make sure to go into the CMS config file and set up the mail server to run off the new mail server account. Also make sure that in Rackspace you add at least one email account to associate with the CMS for username and password settings.