Yes, you can! To experience your site properly as it exists on our servers, on most Windows based systems, follow these steps:
Obtain your website's IP address from within the site control panel.
If you are using a Windows based system:
Using notepad, edit the file c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts on your local computer. Be default, the contents of the file are:
# Copyright (c) 1993-2006 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
Add lines for your site's IP address and domain name (both the non-www and www versions), so that the last few lines of the hosts files look like this:
127.0.0.1 localhost
12.34.56.78 domain.com
12.34.56.78 www.domain.com
Save the hosts file, restart your browser, and visit your site. At this point, you'll be pointing to our servers for the site, and will be able to preview it as it will work once you change the domain's nameservers and "point" the domain to your Blue Sky Hosts Ltd hosting.
When finished previewing, be sure and remove the added lines from your hosts file and re-save it.
Vista Users: In order to be allowed to edit the hosts file in Vista, you may have to run notepad as an administrator. To do so, navigate to Start Menu -> All Programs -> Accessories, right-click on Notepad, and select "Run as administrator".
If you are using a Macintosh OS/X system:
You must be logged in as an administrator
Open the terminal utility, typically found in the Applications -> Utility folder in the Finder.
From the terminal window execute the following command to edit the /etc/hosts
sudo pico -w /etc/hosts
Add lines for your site's IP address and domain name (both the non-www and www versions), so that the last few lines of the hosts files look like this:
12.34.56.78 domain.com
12.34.56.78 www.domain.com
***IMPORTANT NOTE*** use your sites IP address not the ones in the example, your sites IP address can be found in the control panel in the left hand side bar, to access your cPanel type: www.blueskyhosts.com/cpanel and enter the hosting username and password.
To save your changes, press Ctrl-X and then press Y when asked if you wish to save the file
