View hosted sites using shared IP

[harbinger]

Hello.

I am new to Plesk and have questions regarding viewing my hosted site by IP addresses in the browser. For example, I currently have a website redesign in development in my Plesk server. The current website is being hosting internally by my client so, therefore, they can't change their dns records to point to my (external) hosting yet.

Is there anyway I can view the directory of the website via IP address in the browser? My domains will be sharing the same server IP address, but how do I point the browser to a specific hosted folder for a specific domain?

For example, if my hosted sites (domains) all share the hosted IP address 64.150.166.XX, how can I find my domain names individually by IP rather than by domain name?

Please let me know if this needs clarification.

 

[breun]

The easiest solution is probably to add a temporary entry to the hosts file on the machine where your browser runs.

 

[harbinger]

Breun,
I am not sure I understand. If I want my client to view the progress of their future website (hosted in my Plesk), how can I determine the URL or IP to type into their browser if they currently have their domain name pointing to their internally hosted site? Can this even be done?

 

[breun]

If they currently have a site hosted elsewhere then they can add the entry in their hosts file to preview the site and then remove it again to access their regular site again.

Another trick is to setup your server as a proxy server in the browser's settings. This will not work if the site loads external resources.

You can also set a default domain for each of your IP addresses. If you set this site as the default domain for the shared IP then you can view the site by typing the IP address in your browser.

Another option is to develop the site on another domain if this is an option (dev.customer.com for instance).

Adding a temporary entry to your hosts file is definitely the most reliable option in my eyes.