Issue
For various reasons it may be necessary to update the Hosts file on your
computer to properly resolve a web site by its domain name. The most common
reason for this is to allow you to view or publish web content immediately after
purchasing a new domain name or transferring an existing domain name to our
service.
New and transferred domain names have a delay period that can be anywhere
from a few hours to a few days. During this period of time the new or
transferred domain information propagates around the internet, and is generally
unavailable.
If you need to preview your site immediately and cannot use the Plesk Site
Preview feature then you can edit a file on your computer as a temporary work
around.
Solution
Windows & Mac contain a file called 'hosts' that will force resolution of
your domain name. Edit this file using the following procedure.
Click here for instructions for Windows or Mac
instructions.
Windows
1.
Locate the hosts file on your computer
Use Windows explorer to navigate to the following directory:
Windows 95/98/Me c:\windows\hosts
Windows NT/2000 c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Windows XP Home/Pro c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
2.
Open the hosts file for editing
Open your hosts file in Notepad. It should look something like this when you
open it:
We will start typing on a new line at the bottom of the file. To do so, click
your mouse so that the cursor is at the very end of the last line and hit
<Enter> to start a new line.
Enter the following two lines of text like this example:
123.123.123.123 yourdomainname.com
123.123.123.123 www.yourdomainname.com
You must replace the 123.123.123.123 number with the IP Address of the web
server detailed in your Net24 setup email. Replace 'yourdomainname.com' and
'www.yourdomain.com' with the domain name of your web
site.
Your Hosts file should looks something like this when you are done.
Close the Hosts file and save it when asked. If your browser is currently
open, close it so that the changes take effect. It is not necessary to restart
your computer.
Mac OS X - Snow Leopard and Lion
1. Open the Terminal.app
Either by typing Terminal in the Spotlight, or by going into Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal.
2. Open the hosts file
Open the hosts by typing on the Terminal that you have just opened:
Type your user password when prompted.
3. Edit the hosts file
The hosts file contains some comments (lines starting with the # symbol), as well as some default hostname mappings (e.g. 127.0.0.1 – localhost).
Simply append your new mappings underneath the default ones. You can navigate the file using the arrow keys.
Enter the following two lines of text like this example:
123.123.123.123 yourdomainname.com
123.123.123.123 www.yourdomainname.com
You must replace the 123.123.123.123 number with the IP Address of the web server detailed in your Net24 setup email. Replace 'yourdomainname.com' and 'www.yourdomain.com' with the domain name of your web site.
4. Save the hosts file
When you're done editing the hosts file, press control-o to save the file.
Press enter on the filename prompt, and control-x to exit the editor.
5. Flush the local DNS cache
You'll now need to type the following command into the terminal to flush your local DNS cache
You can now preview your web site in your browser!
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