Topic: Testing Domain - localtest.me

[Steffen]

Interesting read at http://weblogs.asp.net/owscott/ :

Save this URL, memorize it, write it on a sticky note, tweet it, tell your colleagues about it!

localtest.me (http://localtest.me)

and

*.localtest.me (http://something.localtest.me)

If you do any testing on your local system you’ve probably created hosts file entries (c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts) for different testing domains and had them point back to 127.0.0.1. This works great but it requires just a bit of extra effort.

This localtest.me trick is so obvious, so simple, and yet so powerful. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are other domain names like this out there, but I haven’t run across them yet so I just ordered the domain name localtest.me which I’ll keep available for the internet community to use.

Here’s how it works. The entire domain name localtest.me—and all wildcard entries—point to 127.0.0.1. So without any changes to your host file you can immediate start testing with a local URL.

[James Blond]

Indeed a nice trick, but there one disadvantage that I see. The client has to have a connection to the DNS server in the internet. In a pure LAN environment that won't work. Also you are bound to that domain name. With a must have of a different domain name it is easier to use the hosts file or a local DNS server.

[glsmith]

it's also just as easy adding the hostname to your host file while adding it to Apache's config.

At 127.0.0.1 there's no way to test IPv6 either. When I test a just compiled Apache I can always tell if I forgot to flip the IPv6 bit if it will not answer to a certain hostname.