Moving a Site to another host
I have been working with a hosting company that I trust completely; they have always done everything perfectly & have NEVER let me down or not been responsive.
Today, however, I am having them move a WordPress site for me & I am unable to test it on their server before I change the DNS.
My environment is Windows 7. They told me I could test it by adding an entry to a file called hosts located at C:\Windows\System32\driver
They said then open it in a browser, I did, it reverts back to the old (current) host.
My question is, I have never heard of this file "hosts" before. I'm guessing that having an entry there is supposed to make the browser go to the specified IP address for that domain name if it finds it in that file.
In FireFox it just stays with the old. In chrome, it gives a 404 error.
Is this technique supposed to work?
Today, however, I am having them move a WordPress site for me & I am unable to test it on their server before I change the DNS.
My environment is Windows 7. They told me I could test it by adding an entry to a file called hosts located at C:\Windows\System32\driver
They said then open it in a browser, I did, it reverts back to the old (current) host.
My question is, I have never heard of this file "hosts" before. I'm guessing that having an entry there is supposed to make the browser go to the specified IP address for that domain name if it finds it in that file.
In FireFox it just stays with the old. In chrome, it gives a 404 error.
Is this technique supposed to work?
SOLUTION
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ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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Make sure you are not passing through any proxy (make sure you have no proxy set on your browser) as the proxy will bypass the local host file entry.
Alternative!! create a test DNS A/CNAME record pointing to your new environment (ex. test.sitename.com) so that you can run a test on your new site performance as well and clear any blocker before switching the Live site.
As you said it is a wordpress site, so you can add new test (test.sitename.com) url to your configuration using wordpress admin console for testing.
Alternative!! create a test DNS A/CNAME record pointing to your new environment (ex. test.sitename.com) so that you can run a test on your new site performance as well and clear any blocker before switching the Live site.
As you said it is a wordpress site, so you can add new test (test.sitename.com) url to your configuration using wordpress admin console for testing.
ASKER
It's now working, not sure why.
The host had me enter the IP TWICE, once with www.sitename.com and once with JUST sitename.com.
I have other issues; see next question.
The host had me enter the IP TWICE, once with www.sitename.com and once with JUST sitename.com.
I have other issues; see next question.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_%28file%29