windows equivalent to /etc/hosts

This is a windows client question, but I didn't know where else
to ask.

If someone asks me to move a website to my
apache server, I create a temporary, made-up virtual
domain definition in apache's configuration, and then
bounce the server.

Then, on a client linux box I use for development,
I can add a line to my local /etc/hosts
file that looks like the following:

12.345.678.901 my-made-up-domain-name.com

Then I can look at the temporary site during development.
Once done I make the name server changes, to give that site
its real and final name.

That allows me to view the site while in development. If my customer
was a MacIntosh user, (s)he could use the same /etc/hosts trick to
view
the development progress, from his/her desktop.

PUNCHLINE QUESTION:
How would you do that on a windows client?

The file you want is here:

%WINDOWS%/system32/drivers/etc/HOSTS

Edit it with notepad, it works just like other Operating systems.

"salmobytes" <Sandy.Pittendrigh@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:9ac6ab6e-d692-401f-8aa1-26d834bd8ba3@s13g2000prd.googlegroups.com...
> This is a windows client question, but I didn't know where else
> to ask.
>
> If someone asks me to move a website to my
> apache server, I create a temporary, made-up virtual
> domain definition in apache's configuration, and then
> bounce the server.
>
> Then, on a client linux box I use for development,
> I can add a line to my local /etc/hosts
> file that looks like the following:
>
> 12.345.678.901 my-made-up-domain-name.com
>
> Then I can look at the temporary site during development.
> Once done I make the name server changes, to give that site
> its real and final name.
>
> That allows me to view the site while in development. If my customer
> was a MacIntosh user, (s)he could use the same /etc/hosts trick to
> view
> the development progress, from his/her desktop.
>
> PUNCHLINE QUESTION:
> How would you do that on a windows client?
>

salmobytes wrote:
> This is a windows client question, but I didn't know where else
> to ask.
>
> If someone asks me to move a website to my
> apache server, I create a temporary, made-up virtual
> domain definition in apache's configuration, and then
> bounce the server.
>
> Then, on a client linux box I use for development,
> I can add a line to my local /etc/hosts
> file that looks like the following:
>
> 12.345.678.901 my-made-up-domain-name.com
>
> Then I can look at the temporary site during development.
> Once done I make the name server changes, to give that site
> its real and final name.
>
> That allows me to view the site while in development. If my customer
> was a MacIntosh user, (s)he could use the same /etc/hosts trick to
> view
> the development progress, from his/her desktop.
>
> PUNCHLINE QUESTION:
> How would you do that on a windows client?
>
There is a hosts file in Windows, too. Sometimes you have to rename it
from hosts.sam. Remove the # which are remarks.

# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost