DNS (Domain Name Service) records are how t'interwebs sites, like this one, find their way onto your computer. You type "
www.modelenginemaker" into your browser, and under the skin, all kinds of trickery goes on to turn that name into a "dotted quad" set of numbers, which is the internet address of this site. The request then goes through a bunch of routers, each of which knows the next part of the journey.
As you can probably imagine, there are millions - maybe billions - of DNS records out there. In order to prevent DNS servers from melting under the load of all their requests, they work as follows:
1) You request
www.modelenginemaker.com from your local DNS server. It doesn't know the answer, so it goes and asks a "root server", which tells it to go as another server, which ..... eventually, your DNS server asks the hosting DNS server, which gives the right answer.
2) Your DNS server saves the result in its short-term cache.
3) Next time you ask (i.e. next time you click a link or whatever), your DNS server remembers the answer & tells you, without all that tedious looking up stuff.
4) After 12-48 hours, depending on how it's configured, it forgets the answer, and next time you ask it has to look it up again.
So, as you can probably tell by now, when I change the DNS record on Sunday morning, your DNS server will keep giving the old answer, for anything up to 48 hours.
2 days without MEM. Could you really cope? I couldn't.....
So... here's a little trick to "fool" your computer into going to the RIGHT place. There's one thing to remember - DON'T make this change until you are SURE that the new forum is up & running and ready to use. I will tell you it is via the "closed for maintenance" message on THIS (the soon to be old) forum.... Trust me, it'll make sense on the day.
The trick varies slightly depending on what version of Windows or Linux you use. Apple guys, sorry, I can't help you, if anyone knows where the "hosts" file is on Apple computers, PM me and I will add it here.
Step 1: Find your "hosts" fileOn Windows XP, and Windows 8 (and, therefore I assume on Vista & Windows 7), it is in the
c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc folder.
On Linux machines, it's usually
/etc/hostsStep 2: Open "hosts" using a text editor, e.g. notepad on Windows, nano or vi or gedit on LinuxIt will look something like the 1st attachment to this post.
Go to the very end of the file, and add a line like this:
195.26.90.15 www.modelenginemaker.comStep 3: Save the file....Windows XP users, just save the file & close it. Same for Linux users.
Windows Vista/7/8 users, I'm afraid there's a few hoops to jump through.....
a) Save the file to your Documents folder, call it hosts.txt
b) You need to re-name the file to get rid of the .txt extension; the EASIEST way is to find the Folder Options dialog (
View menu -> Options -> Change Folder And Search Options on Windows 8 - see attached pic 2), on the View tab find the option "Hide extension for known file types", and un-tick it, save & close the dialog. You can now see (and remove) the .txt extension. I assume Vista & Win 7 are similar. See pic 3 for the Windows XP dialog, it looks very similar in Win8
b2) Alternatively, open a command prompt, use the CD command to change directory to your Documents folder, and the REN command to rename hosts.txt to host (
REN hosts.txt hosts)
c) Finally, copy the newly renamed hosts file back to
c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc, overwriting the old version.
Phew!
Step 4: Restart your browserYou might not need to do Step 4, but it won't hurt. Go for
www.modelenginemaker.com, and it should come up with the new site!
Step 5: Remove the line from hosts after a few daysIt would be wise to remove the new line from your hosts file after a week or so; it will no longer be necessary (as your DNS server will now have the new address in it), and stray entries in the hosts file can cause all kinds of headaches when troubleshooting problems.
PS: Your hosts file can be a great way of foiling advertising and phishing websites; just set the hostname of the offending server to 127.0.0.1 (= local host, or your computer) and you'll never see it again. However, please be VERY careful, as you can really badly screw up your interweb experience with misuse of the hosts file.
Any questions, please ask in the discussion thread linked in the post above.