Preview a site on its live domain

When preparing a site for launch, it can often be useful to test the site on the Flywheel server and live domain prior to making any DNS changes. This is possible by editing your hosts file.

Editing your hosts file allows you to point a domain to a specific IP address on your personal computer only. In particular, this method is often used when testing large multisites, as it’s far less error prone than swapping to temporary domains throughout your entire database.

Step 1: Verify your domain with the TXT record

Before you begin, you’ll need to verify your domain using a text record (TXT record).

A TXT record is used to verify that you own and control your domain, and prevents unauthorized use of it.

Follow these steps to verify your domain:

1. Log in to the Flywheel app and select the website you’d like to preview.
2. Click the 3-dot menu next to the domain and select Update DNS.



3. On the next screen, locate the TXT record for the domain. You will need to copy both values (Host/Label and Destination/Target).
   
4. Log in to your DNS provider’s admin panel and locate the DNS editor. Contact your DNS provider if you’re not sure where to find it.
5. Paste the TXT record values into the DNS editor. Contact your DNS provider if you’re not sure how to add the TXT record.

Step 2: Locate your hosts file

All operating systems have a way to accomplish this task, but the process  and syntax is slightly different in each OS. You can find instructions here for specific operating systems.

Step 3: Modify your hosts file

When you’ve located your hosts file, you’ll need to add at least two pieces of information: the IP address you want the site to resolve to and the domain.

For example, adding the below two lines will point www.domain.com and domain.com to the IP address 173.255.230.60. You’ll obviously want to add your live site’s domain name, and the IP address of your new Flywheel server. These entries are separated in your hosts file only by a single space.

Step 4: Set your primary domain in Flywheel

Once you’ve modified your hosts file, you’ll need to prepare your Flywheel site to work with the domain you added to your hosts file. You can learn about setting your Primary domain name here. Make sure you add the domain exactly as you added it to your hosts file previously – they should match.

Step 5: Save and test

Once you’ve added the proper domain and IP information as noted above, you can save the file and visit the domain in your browser. It should now load like normal, but from the Flywheel server – not your current host. Once you’ve completed your testing, you should remove these modifications from your hosts file.

Need help?

If you have any questions our Happiness Engineers are here to help!