Thread

I’m interested in using EE to run all of our websites. We have a development server for making any updates then sync our changes to the operational server. I was wondering if anybody has this setup with expressionengine and could offer any tips or best practices for getting this system to work smoothly. My concerns are that after we’ve made the site operational, what would be the best way to make updates and sync those updates to the live site without destroying any new content that was added to the live site?

My concerns are that after we’ve made the site operational, what would be the best way to make updates and sync those updates to the live site without destroying any new content that was added to the live site?

There are so many ways to do this, and it all depends upon your work flow, when and where content is added, hardware and software configurations, and so on.

Are you planning to update the live site with content? But, make design and layout changes to a staging server?

Are you planning to update the live site with content? But, make design and layout changes to a staging server?

Yes and yes. The live site will update with content, news items, images, etc. The staging server will update templates and other custom code. I assume we’d have to copy over just the parts of the database that stores the templates?

The live site will update with content, news items, images, etc. The staging server will update templates and other custom code. I assume we’d have to copy over just the parts of the database that stores the templates?

I manage a couple of EE sites that work that way. You can set it up so that specific MySQL tables get updated; from staging to live. I choose not to go that route for safety’s sake. Copy and paste works well, from staging to live, template to template. And EE gives the extra protection of template versions, too. And, there’s the option of using static template files, which makes updates faster than copy and paste.

One of the many beauties of EE is the flexibility—so many ways to do the same thing. Of course, that can be a drawback, too, as best practices are not common.

Thanks for your posts. I have a better grasp going into this now.