When you browse a website, the first thing happens is DNS Resolution (Name to IP conversion) for which your system asks the DNS Servers. In most cases, your DNS Server will be provided by your ISP if you have not changed it, and it might be slow when it comes to updates.
To make sure your site resolves to an IP allocated for your domain with us, you can simply force your system to resolve it locally with the records created in hosts file. Here are the steps to do the same --
Let domain = example.com
Let IP = 174.36.8.195
1. Edit the hosts file in an editor like Notepad (Notepad++ recommended), the file location will be as -
Windows => X:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts (Where X: is your windows installation drive)
Linux => /etc/hosts
2. Add the following lines to the hosts file --
174.36.8.195 example.com
174.36.8.195 www.example.com
3. Save the hosts file and check if it resolves correctly by doing this -
Windows => On cmd prompt > nslookup example.com
Linux => On bash prompt > nslookup example.com OR host example.com
If it does not resolve correctly to your added IP in the hosts file, you may need to reboot your system once.
Once you are done, do not forget to revert the changes as they may be forgotten in long term and can cause your site to resolve even if it is not for others.
Thank you.
