Recently, I've taken steps to create a web development environment for building newer versions of some of my websites. I plan on covering some of the finer details later on but some of the upgrades include things like:

• Netgear ProSwitches for lightning fast gigabit connectivity
• ReadyNAS NVX for 2.6TB of RAID-X centralized storage. I enjoy every aspect of this device.
• Webserver/PC running Windows Server 2003 - Enterprise Edition for serving up multiple websites.

Granted, this setup isn't super unique but if you take the time to do something like this, 2 questions may follow:

When I type EXAMPLE.COM into my browser, how do I make it load from my web server and not from the internet?

The simple answer is to look into editing your HOSTS file. FYI - you will need to edit the HOSTS file on your workstation computer and your server. I recommend using your own top-level domain for your development box. For example, having EXAMPLE.COM go to the internet and EXAMPLE.DEV going to your development server.

How can I test SSL's on pages I view on my development server?

If you try doing this yourself, you might not figure it out so easily but this is a pretty straight forward process. All you'll need for that is to read this article : How to create a self-signed SSL Certificate .

Happy Developing!!!

Labels: Social-Learning