Hi,

I got a site that works on ASP but I'm converting it to PHP. The site is currently running and being visited so I have not shut down yet, and the PHP changes are being done in my home computer. I have Apache+MySQL+PHP installed to try it, but of course this is only a "basic" test (and I'm a newbie on PHP so is a way of learning too).

I have a hosting in mind, and I asked them about the posibility of ordering the account and being able to test my site before transferring the DNS. The answer was that I can upload the site to the IP but I can't see the site until I transfer the domains. I'm a bit confused about this... if I have the IP, shouldn't I be able to see the site? :confused:

Well... if this is true, there is a big problem for me, because although I could prepare all at home and start testing, I prefer to have some days of previos private testings and retouches, with everything working the same way that will do when I transfer the domain. I can of course *try* to emulate the site in my local computer, then upload everything and then transfer the domain but... what if the site does not work? Argh... not good.

Any ideas?
Thanks.

Hi,

Most hosting accounts are on a shared IP address so you won't be able to access your site in particular using just the IP address.

You should be able to use a temporary address from the host - such as www.example.com/~yourname to test your site.

I would contact the host and ask if you can do this, which you should be able to.

If not, I can setup a test account for you if you like ;)

Cheers

Originally posted by Katixa
I'm a bit confused about this... if I have the IP, shouldn't I be able to see the site?

If you are using Windows XP, you can edit the following file to resolve your local dns to the server:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

(Under WinME the localhost file is c:\windows\hosts.sam and I am not sure where it is with other Windows versions, but it's there)

The file would look something like this when you're finished:

127.0.0.1 localhost
123.123.123.123 www.yourdomain.com

(changing the IP and the domain to your own)

Depending on your Windows version you might be best rebooting to force the changes, though in Windows XP you should be able to restart the DNS Client under Admin Tool - Services.

Hope that helps.

Gary

yep, with most virtual hosting you can't preview your domain with a shared IP. However, if you need to preview it ask your provider for a dedicated IP. Also, not sure about the other control panel software, but Ensim alowes you to preview your domain via a shared ip.

IE: ip_address/~yourname.com

Hope this helps