HostArmada Web Hosting Knowledge Base

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What is a temporary URL and how can I get one?

The term "Temporary URL" may have crossed your path while journeying through the web-hosting scene. More so, whenever website transfers are involved, the temporary URL gives you the option of viewing the site on the new server without having to alter your domain's DNS zone. Why is this so useful? Why do many people prefer this method over straight out, pointing their domain names to the new environment? The answer is simple - reliability.

What is a "Temporary URL"?

Website owners, especially those whose sites are the primary source of income, tend to be very careful before pointing their site to the new hosting server. This concern is entirely understandable because if an aspect of their online business does not work correctly, this can cause them severe revenue loss.

Thankfully, the existence of temporary URLs has got you covered in this regard, as it gives the option of migrating the site and applying a URL that allows you to visit and test your website without performing changes to your domain's DNS settings. After making sure your website works as expected, you can safely and confidently point your domain name to the new nameservers, making it accessible worldwide.

The temporary URL seems very useful. How can I use this functionality?

HostArmada offers cPanel based web hosting servers. Clients who are familiar with cPanel, have adopted the baked-in temporary URL that cPanel has natively. To access it, all you need to do is type one of the following:

  • server.hostname.com/~cpanelusername
  • serveripaddress/~cpanelusername

Here is an example:

  • hostarmada.servers.com/~hostarm
  • 123.123.123.123/~hostarm

This temporary URL will NOT work with HostArmada, as we have a specific server setup that requires this particular functionality disabled for security and infrastructural reasons. If you wish to use a temporary URL with us, all you need to do is contact our support team over the ticketing system and request a URL.

Note that this will be available for your primary domain that resides within the public_html folder, which is the root directory of your primary domain name.

If you have a hosting plan that supports addon domains such as the Web Warp or Speed Reaper plans, you may utilize this URL, however, you would need to configure the root directories for these websites within directories inside the public_html folder. For instance, when you have an addon domain that you want to test, and its root directory is:

/home/user/public_html/addon-domain 

This website will be accessible at the following URL:

  • hostarmada.servers.com/addon-domain

Amazing! It seems relatively straightforward. Is there a catch?

Good question. Some applications, especially the open-source ones, are domain sensitive. That fact requires that you reconfigure them to utilize the new URL before you can view them. If you are ever in a position where typing the temporary URL in your browser leaves your site with missing images or a broken layout, this is very likely due to the misconfigured URL.

Luckily for you, we have a highly experienced technical team able to handle the ENTIRE process for you - from setting up your website to its re-configuration, enabling it to work with the new URL. This service is completely free of charge, and to take advantage of this option, all you need to do is submit a ticket from your Client Area.

This process seems very confusing! Is there an alternative?

Of course! You can always use the local hosts' file method. We have an in-depth explanation of how it works in our tutorial. Hopefully, upon reviewing it, you can decide on which technique you prefer or, even better - you can adopt both of them and fully control the URLs or locations from which you access your domains/sites!

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