using a host file to test a virtual host apache site configuration

When developing on a server , you will want to test the site you are working on to make sure everything is working correctly.  Sometimes you may not have a domain name pointing to your test server.  This may present a problem because there may be domain specific configurations within your site that depends on a domain name.

Lets say the IP address to your dev server , for brevity is 1.2.3.4.  The best part about this is if you are developing locally on a virtual server set up with Parallels , VMware or Virtual Box this trick will work.

Read Also:

1. .htaccess apache rewrite rules
2. Finding and Editing Mac OSX Host File
3. Could not reliably determine the server’s fully qualified domain name, using 127.0.1.1 for ServerName

Tags: Apache