before DNS rolls over...?

Hey All,
So I've read the documentation, but there is a part where it is unclear. I've set my DNS servers at my registration site to DH's name servers, and I'm waiting for the transfer to take place.

So I want to work on my site before it rolls over. How do I do this? I saw the 'getting started' but after it points you to the manage domains, it leave you there, without instructions as to how to register a subdomain.

my site is www.prube.com

I want something like: prube.dreamhost.com

How can I add this? Also note, I do not run windows.

In the Control Panel, you can find your machine name by picking Manage Users under the Users menu. In my case, it's garth, so I can FTP to garth.dreamhost.com using my username and password.

Viewing your new site is a bit more tricky and requires to modify the hosts file on your home computer.

-Scott

I'm in the same boat. I read the documentation, tried to create the subdomain mysite.dreamhosters.com but it doesn't show up. I've been trying for days. As I understand it until it does show up I can't get to my database either. I finally wrote support but have yet to hear back.

I find the instructions on those start-up topics particularly simplistic and not really helpful. I am still getting used to Dreamhost's suite of tools and procedures. So far I have found them a lot less straightforward than other hosts that I've dealt with. Not saying they are bad. In fact they are potentially very powerful. I just don't find the documentation very clear so far.

Bob

Thanks for your post. I've got the first part, as I'm able to get to my site (on selma). I've seen the instructions for the Windows users, but I run a Mac. Would it be possible to just use an IP addr? I don't mind typing something complicated into the URL bar, as long as its something. I tried going to selma's IP addr, and that plus my directory. Any ideas?

You do have to first add your domain being transferred to be "fully hosted" at DH.

Then add a temporary domain, like prube.dreamhosters.com , and set it to mirror the other domain. That subdomain should work/resolve within a fairly short time.

I just tested it. The new subdomain.dreamhosters.com worked within an hour or so for me, but after changing to mirror another domain, I still get the darn "error id: "bad_httpd_conf" error after a couple hours more. At this rate, the name server change of the original domain being transferred will be quicker. :-)

Better luck,

BobS

If you are using Mac OS X (which is based off of BSD) then you should check to see if you have a /etc/hosts file. If you do then you can modify that one the same way you would on windows.

If you're on Selma, add this to your /etc/hosts file:
208.97.135.5 mydomain.com www.mydomain.com
(replace mydomain with your real domain)

Using this command:
sudo pico /etc/hosts

-Scott