Testing and Production Blog Site Coordination

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winjama
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Is there a process or recommended practice in working with both a testing and production blog site to keep both parts coordinated with the other? What, in particular, do you need to pay attention to, etc. Looking for ideas, etc.
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Arn
Hello Winjama, Thanks for the question about the testing and production sites. We don't really have a guide for that because there are many different situations and people handle this kind of thing depending on their experience and preference. I'll suggest a few different ways to handle it: If your site is already running on another host, and you work on a test/development server with the intention of making that server the eventual production server:
  • Setup the test/development server as normal
  • Use a HOSTS file to point to the test/development server using the original domain name.
  • When development/testing is complete, simply change DNS to the new server and it allows for switching without too many problems
Main issues with any method of production/development environments is having to synchronize data from the production environment, UNLESS you have no use for the old data. Additionally, you're not running in the same server environment and the costs may be higher because you're on two different hosting servers. Main advantage of using a HOSTS file modification is that you would be testing with the primary domain name (not some other domain name) and transferring over (minus any data) would be very simple. One of the other options is to use a subdomain for development, while the production domain is still running in the primary domain area.
  • All files/folders and database are in the same area allowing for easy transfer
  • Cheaper because you're running it one ONE hosting service instead of two different ones
  • You're working in the SAME environment as the production server
As previously mentioned, the main issue again will be moving data from the production server to the development site once everything's ready to move. In addition, with a subdomain, you have MOVE everything to the primary domain's location when development is complete. We can go on and on, in terms of the discussion for production and testing environment. Regardless of how you handle it, the best thing you need to do is to consider the transition from the live to the eventual final website and how you will handle the necessary tasks for that move. I hope this helps to answer your question, please let us know if you require any further assistance. Regards, Arnel C.