Moving a personal site and installing a self-hosted CRM

I moved the client's site onto a subdomain and installed a self-hosted CRM beside it. Two catches: the certificate they'd bought only covered the main domain, and the newer CRM release wanted a PHP version their host didn't offer.

The objective

The client wanted their site moved to a subdomain with a redirect from the old address, and a self-hosted CRM installed on another subdomain of the same domain.

The certificate they'd bought from their host covered the main domain only. Their support confirmed it, which left two options: a certificate that covered the subdomains too, or a separate one installed for each of them.

The newer branch of the CRM needs PHP 8.2. Their hosting offered 8.1 at the most.

What I did

I listed the exact names the certificate had to cover before it got issued, so the limitation was on the table while it could still be changed, not after the site had already moved.

I asked the client to change nothing while the certificate question was still open, since a half-applied change is what turns a move into a recovery job.

I moved the site to the subdomain and set up the redirect from the old address.

And I checked the CRM's requirements against what the host actually offered, asked the client to put the PHP version question to their support, and installed the branch that runs on 8.1 once the answer came back no.

The result

The site runs on its new address with the redirect working, and the CRM runs on a PHP version the hosting actually supports rather than one it doesn't.