When passenger prefpane stops working and you have to add a host manually in OSX 10.6.x

local site

#create a passenger host config file
touch /etc/apache2/passenger_pane_vhosts/[site].local.vhost.conf

#contents ++++++++++++++++++

<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerName site.local
  DocumentRoot "/Users/nfloyd/code/rails/site/public"
  RackEnv development
  <Directory "/Users/nfloyd/code/rails/site/public">
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
  </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

#contents ++++++++++++++++++

# add host to local host database
sudo dscl localhost -create /Local/Default/Hosts/site.local IPAddress 127.0.0.1

#flush dns
sudo dscacheutil -flushcache