Help setting up vps for testing updated site

Hi

I am in process of revamping one of my sites and moving from shared hosting to a vps.
I have got a SSD VPS which has a clean Centos 6 installed on it, I have installed CWP

I must start by saying I am new to all this, before I start.

What I wish to do is to test my revamped site which is Joomla Based on this box, but only have it visible by its IP at the moment, so that it does not mess my live system up.

And then When I am happy with new site (probably a few months away) then to point my domain to new server etc. which will handle all site mail etc.

Is this feasible, to keep the new vps to the 'world' until ready.

Any ideas, guides help would be much appreciated.

After installing cwp your vps is ready for the purpose.

Hi
Thanks for your reply.

I created a new user and added a 'full' package; that has Apache,mail,sql ftp etc.
I uploaded to this account via filezilla, latest joomla into the public_html folder that appeared in joomla

when i point browser to ip/domainname of user; nothing happens.

So I thought I would upload joomla to usr\local\apache\htdocs
i renames the existing index.html
when i point browser to ip i get server 500 error

Is there a step by step with screendumps of creating a account with domain etc.

Sorry this is a totally noob here.

to test website without changing dns, edit "hosts" file (windows) and add line like this
103.222.222.111  wwwt.youdomain.tld
103.222.222.111  youdomain.tld

when i point browser to ip/domainname of user; nothing happens.

what do you meant by nothing happened ?
you need to create dns records A, cname etc.
&
go to user account > fix permission >> select user name from drop down menu >>> hit fix permission

POST YOUR WebSite URL

So I thought I would upload joomla to usr\local\apache\htdocs
i renames the existing index.html
when i point browser to ip i get server 500 error

this will not work and hence not recommend to upload files their. you should upload files to /home/username/public_html/