Developing with OpenDNS

More and more I find myself using new domains to test my latest project out on. Although I use XAMPP to develop on locally, it isn’t a true replication of my web host and so once I have done what I can locally I move to the testing server, usually a sub-domain on my webhost.

There are problems however with using sub-domains; one being the wait. It is recommended that you allow up to 48 hours for any DNS updates to be made before you begin using the domain. This is often a frustration as I want to be able to create sub-domains at a moment’s notice (though I am getting better at creating them in advance).

A solution I have found however is to use OpenDNS as my DNS server for connecting to the internet through. As well as providing numerous features, such as content blocking, shortcuts and statistics, the key feature I use is CacheCheck which retrieves the DNS settings for a given domain name from the OpenDNS cache. If the settings haven’t been updated to what they should be, you can manually update the OpenDNS cache, allowing you to access your newly created domain long before the supposed 48 hour wait.

2 comments to “Developing with OpenDNS”

Although, every subdomain you’ve set up for me on Dreamhost has been accessible almost instantly.

Dave at 4.43 pm
on Wednesday 11th June 2008

[...] lisant cet article: Developing with OpenDNS, j’ai découvert encore un des avantages de OpenDNS: le [...]

Galipe » Blog Archive » Travailler sur son nouveau site web grâce à OpenDNS at 11.36 am
on Friday 13th June 2008