Can anyone point to a helpful reference/podcast/blog suggesting a good strategy for running development versions of your live EE site—in order to test upgrades and add-on updates before taking it to the live production server?
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April 05, 2012 1:32pm
Subscribe [3]#1 / Apr 05, 2012 1:32pm
Can anyone point to a helpful reference/podcast/blog suggesting a good strategy for running development versions of your live EE site—in order to test upgrades and add-on updates before taking it to the live production server?
#2 / Apr 05, 2012 2:19pm
Here is a plugin that might help you out - http://ee-garage.com/nsm-config-bootstrap
Also do a search in google for Github and EE. Here is one article I found but I think it is geared towards Mac users - http://hivelogic.com/articles/deploying-expressionengine-github-capistrano/
#3 / Apr 05, 2012 2:23pm
I would highly recommend https://github.com/focuslabllc/ee-master-config for multiple environment config handling. I would also take a look at this article: http://focuslabllc.com/blog/eeci2011-environments-and-version-control-in-expressionengine
#4 / Apr 06, 2012 2:04pm
This doesn’t need be a complicated process, if you have access to your databases (thru phpMyAdmin, etc).
Let’s say you start with a development install on your PC. Once you have that configured, you can pretty much FTP it to your remote host, say in a staging directory. You can change the config.php and database.php items that need updated for the new location. Then, export the database from your dev version and import it into the staging’s database. You’ll then log into the staging install and modify the Admin->General config items, the Location of your saved templates in Design->Global Prefs and then the locations of you image directories.
You can then do the same thing for your live install.
This process takes me about 10 minutes (max) start to finish.
In practice, I skip the staging install myself. Used to use one, I don’t find it helpful, as typically template changes are minor, and when needed I export/import the live database into my development db. Before I update addons, I backup the db and make sure I have copies of the version prior to update.
It really depends on your need whether the staging will matter.
I’m sure some of the modules/addons for helping with this process are good. I’ve always found it best to do these types of things manually. First, I know what’s been done. And second, there’s nothing better to understanding the system you’re working with that just working with it.
My thoughts…
Randy