The best way to test your website is by staging, or pointing your domain via your system’s HOSTS file. The benefit to doing this is you will not have to wait for DNS propagation, however this will only work on the system you configure it on. If someone else would like to test the site, they will need to follow the same steps for modifying the HOSTS file.
- Open your text editor of choice. Windows users will need to use Notepad with administrative privileges in order to be able to modify the HOSTS file (right click Notepad -> Run as Administrator).
- Open your systems HOSTS file. The location of this file is as follows:
Windows: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts
Linux / Mac: /etc/hosts - Add the following line to the file on a new line at the bottom:
162.223.193.3 yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com -
Note that “162.223.193.3” will need to be replaced with your server IP. You can get this info from cpanel or contact support to get your servers IP. The records for “yourdomain.com” and “www.yourdomain.com” will need to be replaced with your actual website address.
- Save the file, then open a browser and go to your website. The site will now load from the PowerSurge server! To revert this change, simply remove the line you added and save the file. This will direct the site back to the original host.
