title: Resolving ip public address to 127.0.0.1
body: <p>Good day all,</p>
  
  <p>I'm in the process of locally testing a website and I need to replicate the production environment. This website is available on a public ip address (no domain for it yet), and I need to 'override' the public ip address with a local ip address for which I've setup a virtual host locally.</p>
  
  <p>Point is, I can't 'override' the public access. I'm using windows, and I've tried using the hosts file, the 'route' and 'arp' commands, but I don't think these are the correct tools. Hosts file only accepts domains, and I might not be skilled enough to issue the proper route or arp commands.</p>
  
  <p>Example:
  ping 85.85.82.83 &lt;= NOT A DOMAIN NAME
  reply 127.0.0.1</p>
  
  <p>So please help me redirect a public ip address to a local ip address, so that a simple 'ping' of the originally public ip address points instead to the local ip address assigned.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks in advance.</p>