Website Development Sites / Temporary URLs Print

If you are working on your Joomla site using a temporary URL on the Hosting Australia servers...for example, if you have an existing Hosting Account elsewhere, and haven't yet pointed the domain to Hosting Australia...you may want to set up a temporary redirection via your Windows PC Host file.

Editing the "Host" file on your PC will allow you to manually force the DNS to a set IP. Setting a manual entry for your domain in the hosts file will ask your PC/MAC only to look directly at the IP address itself, regardless of what the domain is pointed to.

IMPORTANT - Remember to remove these entries, once you have updated your domain name, to prevent issues down the track.

The change is quite simple to make. It just involves adding two lines to the host file. For example, if your domain name was www.acmeproducts.com, and you are hosted on the IP of 101.0.93.98, the two lines required would be:

101.0.93.98 www.acmeproducts.com
101.0.93.98 acmeproducts.com

Please ensure you open the text edit as administrator, to work around Windows User Account Control (UAC).

TIP: You can enter a # in front of the IP address in the host's file if you wish temporarily override the entire. For example:
#101.0.93.98 acmeproducts.com

For Windows 8 and Windows 10:

1. Press the Windows key on your keyboard.
2. Enter Notepad in the search field.
3. From the search results, right-click Notepad and select Run as administrator.
4. Once notepad has opened, navigate to c:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc and open the
          file called "hosts"
5. Add the two-line entries, as mentioned above.
6. Click File and then click on Save to finish your changes.

IMPORTANT - Remember to remove these entries, once you have updated your domain name, to prevent issues down the track.

For Windows 7 and Vista:

1. Click Start, then All Programs and then choose Accessories.
2. Right-click Notepad and choose Run as administrator.
3. Click Continue on the UAC confirmation window.
4. Once Notepad opens, click File then click on Open.
5. Once notepad has opened, navigate to c:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc and open the
          file called "hosts"
6. Add the two-line entries, as mentioned above.
7. Click File and then click on Save to finish your changes.
   

IMPORTANT - Remember to remove these entries, once you have updated your domain name, to prevent issues down the track.

For a non-windows environment, please consult your local IT Support provider.