Just a heads up for anyone working with a shared linux hosting account hosted by GoDaddy. I’m trying to view a client’s web site before the DNS kicks using some sort of IP address/username combination like I’m used to with my other vendors.

Usually you can access the client’s website pre-DNS by going to http://192.168.1.1/~username/ and preview the site before the DNS propagates.

This is especially handy because you can move files from one server to another, configure them and view them via the IP address/username combination and move the DNS after you’re confident the new server is properly setup. If executed properly, this prevents downtime and no one knows you’ve made any changes.

The problem? You can’t do this on GoDaddy. Without DNS setup, you can’t preview your site in a new location. Right now I’m not sure why. The answer is simply to add a new A Name record pointing to a subdomain, but it’s just one extra step you have to take.

Configure your A Name records so that

old IP address points to sampledomain.com
new IP address points to temporary.sampledomain.com hosted at GoDaddy.

and work under the subdomain until you’re ready to make your move.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 30th, 2007 at 12:57 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.