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What to Expect When Moving to Cloud 9

Most of the preparation happens while your current Rock environment stays online. Your Rock instance only needs to go offline once, during a migration window we schedule with you. For most churches, that window is about four to six hours.

Your Rock data, files, accounts, configuration, and web addresses move with you. When the migration is complete, your team returns to the same Rock environment, now running on Cloud 9.

Steps to Migrating Rock Hosting

  1. Prepare

    Before migration day, we review your current Rock environment and identify anything that could affect the move.

    We will confirm your Rock-related domains and subdomains, DNS access, email setup, check-in configuration, and any services such as Cloudflare, a CDN, firewall, or other infrastructure that sits in front of Rock.

    Most of this work happens while your current environment stays online.

  2. Schedule

    Once we are ready, we will work with you to choose a migration window.

    Before the date is finalized, we will confirm:

    • The expected downtime for your environment
    • Which websites and services will be unavailable
    • Who can make DNS changes if needed
    • Any church events or ministry activity that could affect scheduling

    For most churches, Rock is offline for about four to six hours. Larger databases or more complex environments may take longer, and we will give you an estimate before the migration is scheduled.

  3. Move

    At the beginning of the migration window, your team will finish its work and log out of Rock.

    We will then move the latest version of your database, files, and Rock environment into Cloud 9.

    During this portion of the migration, anything that depends on your Rock instance will be unavailable. This may include your public website, online giving, check-in, forms, workflows, and scheduled communications.

  4. Verify

    Once the move is complete, we reconnect your web addresses and begin testing the new environment.

    Our team verifies that your Rock instance and associated domains are loading properly and checks the major services involved in your migration.

    We will let you know as soon as your environment is ready for your team to begin using again.

  5. Settle In

    Your old hosting environment is not immediately removed.

    We leave it intact but stopped while your team settles into Cloud 9. This provides a temporary safety net while you confirm that everything is operating as expected.

    Once you are comfortable with the new environment, we can help you determine when it is appropriate to retire the old server.

Impacts of Migrating Rock Hosting

What stays the same

Your ministry continues managing your data, Rock configuration, workflows, content, and people. The migration does not change:

  • Your Rock data
  • Your people and family records
  • Your user accounts
  • Your Rock configuration
  • Your workflows and forms
  • Your files and content
  • Your existing Rock web addresses
  • The way your staff uses Rock day to day

What changes behind the scenes

Cloud 9 takes responsibility for much of the infrastructure that keeps Rock available and protected. Depending on your plan and environment, that includes:

  • Server management
  • Automated monitoring
  • Database and server backups
  • Security certificates
  • Edge protection
  • Email delivery infrastructure
  • Hosting-related maintenance and support

Frequently Asked Questions

Most churches are offline for about four to six hours. The biggest factor is the size of your database, so we will give you an estimate specific to your church before we schedule anything. Everything that can be done ahead of time happens while you are still online, which is what keeps the window short.

Everything that runs through your Rock instance. That usually includes online giving, check-in, and any scheduled emails or texts. If your public website runs on Rock, your website is offline too. We will list every one of your web addresses that is affected before you approve the window, so there are no surprises.

No. Your data, files, logins, and web addresses all stay the same. The move changes where Rock runs, not what it is. When you come back online, everything is exactly as your team left it.

Three things. First, confirmation that the window works for your team. Second, access to your domain (DNS) account, or a person who can make a change there during the window. The DNS change is what brings you back online, so this is the one item that can delay a migration. Third, a complete list of the web addresses that point at your Rock, including subdomains. It also helps to know early if anything sits in front of your site today, such as Cloudflare, a CDN, or a firewall appliance.

Finish up and log out of Rock before the window starts. Move any emails or texts scheduled to send during the window to before or after it. Rock does not send missed messages late, it skips them, so anything scheduled for the middle of the window would simply not go out.

Two normal things. Some visitors may see a brief browser security warning for a few minutes while your new security certificate is issued. It clears on its own. The very first page load can also be slow while Rock warms up, and then everything is fast again. We stay on it until every address loads cleanly, and we message you the moment you are back.

Your church keeps sending from your own domain, and to your congregation nothing changes. Behind the scenes you get your own isolated sending account on Cloud 9's email platform. You will add three small DNS records that we provide, and in most cases no change to your existing SPF record is needed. One tip: once you are settled, disable the email credentials at your previous provider so nothing can send as your domain from the old setup.

Check-in itself comes right back with Rock. If your labels print through the Rock server rather than directly from your check-in devices, printing needs one extra component that we configure as part of the migration. Tell us how your printing is set up early, and plan a quick test check-in before your first service.

Nothing, at first, and that is on purpose. We leave your old environment intact but stopped, as a safety net while you settle in. It stays yours, and its costs continue until you retire it, so once you are confident in your new home we will walk through it with you and retire it on your timeline. We only ever change what serves Rock. Anything else in your old environment or your DNS stays exactly as it is unless you ask us to change it.

Per your agreement, generally when you go live on Cloud 9. Invoices arrive by email, and paying by bank draft avoids the card processing surcharge.

Every Cloud 9 plan includes automated monitoring that watches your instance around the clock and alerts our team the moment something looks wrong, automatic backups of both your database and your server, edge protection that filters malicious traffic and shields your server from direct attack, and security certificates that renew themselves. Updates, certificates, backups, and monitoring are our job. Your data, your Rock configuration, and your people are yours.

Your dashboard at 9embers.com shows the live status of your servers. For project work such as upgrades, workflows, or reports, the Request Hourly Support tab on your dashboard sends the details straight to our team, and we reply within two business days. If our monitoring catches a problem with your hosting, we are alerted automatically and will reach out if anything needs your attention.