HOW TO TEST OR PREVIEW YOUR WEBSITE BEFORE SWITCHING DNS

GETTING STARTED

If you haven't already ordered your new DV server from Media Temple, click here to do that now.

When ordering your new server, there are a couple things to keep in mind:

• The new server cannot have the same domain as an existing service at the time it is ordered (although this can be changed later, if desired)
• Don't use a subdomain of a domain that is currently on another service. You could use something like new-example.com, or just a random string of characters like igw8aclrj2.net.

Now that you have your new DV server with the Plesk platform, use the following guide to successfully test or preview your site.

USING PLESK'S BUILT IN PREVIEW FEATURES

Plesk comes with a built in preview features that you may use to see your site before the domain is pointed through DNS. There are three types of previews: Limited Preview, Quick Preview on a Plesk domain, and Quick Preview on an external domain. By default, Limited Preview is already active on all of our DV servers. If you are not seeing all of your content load using this method, you may also change your preview settings to use one of Plesk's Quick Preview options.

To use Plesk's default Limited Preview feature, use the following steps:

• Log in to Plesk.
• Click on Websites & Domains.
  
• Click Preview under the domain that you wish to preview.
  

Switching between Limited Preview and Quick Preview

To switch between Limited Preview and Quick Preview, use the following steps:

• Log in to Plesk.
• Click on Tools & Settings.
  
• Select Website Preview from the General Settings column.
  
• Select the type of quick preview that you require. Quick Preview on a domain name in Plesk will allow you to use a drop-down menu where your available domains will be listed. For an external domain name, follow Plesk's instructions.  
  
  
• Click OK or Apply.

Using your IP to preview your site on a DV with Plesk

You can use your IP address to preview your site, but you must first designate a primary domain for that IP address in Plesk. You can change the primary domain as often as you want, so you can use the same IP to preview different sites.

To define which IP address a domain is assigned to, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the Plesk Control Panel for your domain.

2. Click on Tools & Settings.

3. From the Tools & Resources menu, select IP Addresses.

4. Your IP address(es) will be listed. Click on the specific IP address you are working with to continue.
5. From the Default site menu, select the domain you'd like to assign to this IP address.
6. Click the OK or Apply button to save your changes.

For additional tips, visit Media Temple's Support Community.