Staging
The DNS
How Can I Test My Website Before Switching DNS?
Avoid The Painfully Long Waiting Period After Pointing A Domain Name To A New Host.
When you change the DNS settings of a domain name there is a painfull 24 – 48 hour waiting period. If you want to skip the wait you can stage the DNS to trick your computer into going to the right location. It wont help your clients see the site but it will buy you sometime so you can get started working right away. This is how you do it on a windows computer.
Staging The DNS On Windows & Mac
On Windows
To “stage” the site on your computer you must use open your system’s HOSTS file in notepad while in administrator mode. To do this you must right click on the icon and go to Run As Administrator like the image on the right.
OPEN: C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Add the hosts Ip address first followed by website url like this. One without www and one with. You can add in as many different websites as you want.
000.000.00.00 website.com www.website.com
IP ADDRESSES FOR KNOWN HOSTS
Green Geeks Hosting = 184.107.41.70
Blue Host = Dosn’t allow staging the DNS
Client can see the site by using this tool:
www.hosts.cx
