During web development, sometime you (I always) need to test with a domain name, whether inside local computer or online. This post will tell you how to run multiple domain on your local PC, without setting up a DNS server. I am using Apache 2.0.53.

Case: You want to develop a website for your-domain.com and need to test it online under certain domain name.

Solution:

[1] Create a local domain name

To differ between online and local domain, you need to create a local domain name (sub domain is okay), i.e: local.yourdomain.com

[2] Edit your hosts file

In Windows XP, the “hosts” file can be found at “C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc”. Put your local domain/subdomain there with the following order:

127.0.0.1 local.yourdomain.com

[3] Add a Virtual Host into your apache configuration file (httpd.conf)

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin webmaster@local.yourdomain.com
DocumentRoot “D:\path\to\your\web_directory”
ServerName local.yourdomain.com
ErrorLog logs/local.yourdomain-error_log
CustomLog logs/local.yourdomain-access_log common
</VirtualHost>

[4] Done.

Point your web browser to http://local.yourdomain.com. I have a result like this.

From now on, you can run multiple domain on your local PC, without the need to install DNS server.

Questions are welcome. Just leave it here and I am ready to help you.

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