Many developers have found themselves in this position before – you’re building a website for a client who is switching to a new host. The idea is the install the new site on the new server, than change the nameservers in DNS and VOILA! In 12-48 hours most people in the world will be directed to the new site when they try browsing to it.
The problem, then is how to install a site on the new server and make sure it’s working properly BEFORE editing the domain nameservers. Thankfully, this is a very easy thing to do, thanks to the HOSTS file found in Windows, OS X & Linux.
What is the HOSTS file?
The HOSTS file is used in an operating system to map hostnames to IP addresses. (Wikipedia)
Hostname is another word for domain name. A domain name combined with a top level domain (meaning .com or .org, etc) is what people enter into a browser to access a website – like www.echoleaf.com
HOSTS files can be used to trick a computer into thinking that a website is located at a different IP address than it really is. Viruses and malware sometimes target the HOSTS file to redirect victims to a site that looks like a legitimate site but in reality is not. For example, they can try redirecting a victim to a fake Paypal or bank site to capture login information. They also hope that the victim does not check the url because it will be a dead giveaway that the site is not real. These urls are often long with lots of random letters and numbers after a legit-sounding beginning, like www.paypal.com.34534534.com/3987fh78ch7ygy7fg876sdf76
Editing the HOSTS file to point a domain to different IP address on your computer
Web developers can use this ability of the HOSTS files to trick their computer into thinking that a client’s website is located at a new IP address – the one of the new server. The process goes like this:
- Find the IP address for the new hosting account or server.
- Find the HOSTS file
- Windows
- Go to C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\ or %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\
- In Windows XP, you can just double-click and start editing the file.
- In Windows Vista or 7, click Start – search for Notepad, right-click and select Run as Administrator. From the Notepad file menu, open the HOSTS file, then start editing.
- Saving: from the Notepad file menu, select Save.
- OS X
- Open Terminal
- In Terminal, type in
sudo nano /private/etc/hostsand hit Enter. - Enter your password as requested
- Editing is done in the Terminal window, you can use arrow keys to navigate to the bottom of the file and add a new line.
- Saving: Hit control-O to save the file.
- Linux
Add a new line mapping the client’s domain to its new IP address. The format is like this: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx www.domain.com
- This line goes beneath all the other entries. Make sure that line does not start with # as that will comment out the line and make it invisible to the operating system.
- After editing, save the HOSTS file as noted above.
Last step: clear the local DNS cache. This must not be overlooked – if you do not clear the local DNS cache, your browsers will still think the website is located at the old IP address!
- Windows
- Click the Start button in lower left, select Run, then type cmd and hit Enter.
- At the command prompt, type ipconfig /flushdns and hit Enter
- Done!
- OS X (10.5+)
- Open Terminal
- In Terminal, type in
dscacheutil -flushcacheand hit Enter - Done!
Now when you enter the client’s domain into your browser, you will see it at the new IP address. You can install, configure & test BEFORE editing the DNS nameservers. Keep in mind that this applies ONLY to the one computer whose HOSTS file was edited. If you have 2 computers, you can edit the HOSTS file on one and use the other computer to check the old website located on the old server.
Hope this helps!
