Hi all - I have read the knowledge base on moving site to new IP and also several topics on the subject. My question is: does the new hosting location work if the domain has not propagated?
What I want to do is setup the site on the new hosting server and test it etc. BEFORE changing the dns at the registrar. I can view the new server pages by changing my local host file, but the new site location does not work, database error.
I am thinking that it will not work because the site is trying to access the resolved domain and not the new server IP.
How can I move the site to a new hosting server and be able to test it before changing the DNS to point to it?
Thanks,
Jacson
Copy you data over then put a restriction in the robots file so search engines don't crawl the site. You might also want to password the home page. Some host create a virtual host so you can work on your site before propitiation but if yours doesn't you should still be able to use your host path. Internal links should work if the urls don't include to domain.
I've done this recently but I had 2 domains which made it easy.