I'm used to using HSP control panel to administer my VPS. I'm evaluating GoDaddy's VPS hosting using the Plesk 8.0.2 control panel, which is similar (both made by SWSoft) but ... different.

I want to setup a website and test it using just the IP address assigned to the account. I don't want to point my domain name of the currently live site to the GoDaddy server until everything is up and running. Plesk has a "preview site" "feature" that brings the site up in a window with a (long, internal) URL. Just typing http://my.ip.add.res/ does not work. (I get a default "plesk" page)

How do I directly access the domain I created in Plesk through a browser before transferring the domain name?

Is there a plugin for firefox or something that will set the HTTP headers to the domain and IP I specify, even though they don't resolve to each other in DNS? I'm thinking that Plesk is receiving a request for the IP with no domain name, and therefore doesn't know where to direct the traffic to.

Anyone out there use plesk?

10/10/2006 4:49:09 PM

so much of this post confuses me

10/10/2006 4:55:40 PM

yeah... i don't know WTF he just said...

10/10/2006 4:56:27 PM

Quote :

"I'm thinking that Plesk is receiving a request for the IP with no domain name, and therefore doesn't know where to direct the traffic to."

doubtful

hosts usually assign you a subdirectory - just ask them where yours is.

I've always used cPanel hosts but it's been http://123.456.789.012/~usernm/ as the temporary URL until the domain starts resolving. Plesk probably works the same way.

10/10/2006 5:16:57 PM

This is a VPS, Virtual Private Server, so it acts basically just like a standalone, dedicated server. Apache, MySQL, root access, etc.

I guess plesk is just a pretty interface to configure apache and some file directories. Maybe my answer lies in httpd.conf.

10/10/2006 5:34:45 PM

what's the long internal URL used by Plesk?

10/10/2006 5:38:35 PM

https://ip-xxx-xx-xxx-xxx.ip.secureserver.net:8443/sitepreview/http/mywebdomainname.com/?previous_page=dom_ctrl

(I've replaced my IP address with "x"'s and changed the domain name to protect the innocent.)

10/10/2006 7:00:12 PM

It turns out, I can traverse the folder structure as you would expect (which is what I was needing to do, but couldn't figure out), by adding the folder names onto the end of this crazy URL:

https://ip-xxx-xx-xxx-xxx.ip.secureserver.net:8443/sitepreview/http/mywebdomainname.com/newfolder/anotherfolder/specificfile.php

This end part is unecessary: ?previous_page=dom_ctrl

I guess I'll just use Plesk's "preview" option. I don't want to muck with the httpd file without plesk "knowing" about it ... Plesk might get really pissed then!

Anyway, thanks dF!

10/10/2006 7:46:59 PM

rofl yw, i guess

10/10/2006 9:25:49 PM

In case anyone is interested, the REAL way to deal with this is by using the windows HOSTS file. XP looks to the hosts file BEFORE it looks to DNS, so if there's an entry in there that maps

ip.add.re.ss to mydomain.com

and you open IE and punch up mydomain.com, it will go to ip.add.re.ss, regardless of what IP is in DNS.

And, therefore, Godaddy's webserver gets a request with mydomain.com in the header and knows what to do with it. (this was what I was referring to regarding the Firefox plugin ... i was on the right track, just didn't know how to keep going!)

/thread.

10/11/2006 1:43:26 PM