I have my live site up and running (mysite.com) on a vps.
I also have (mytestsite.com)(not live) on the same vps. but operating completely independently, separate databases etc.
How can i make the test site identical to the live site, for developing purposes. Can anyone suggest a good process for doing so?
Dear Jackyboy,
You should copy all files from a live site to a test one. You may make a copy without any images if there are lots of them. Also, you should copy database.
Fix the config.local.php file on test website and set up the storefront.
You will have 2 similar websites with different files and databases.
Also, you should close your test website from the search engines. This site should not be indexed by the search engine robots.
We could help you if you want. Contact us.
Best regards, Alt-team.
Also need to change the companies table to reflect the proper urls and you will probably need to turn off SSL on the test site depending on whether you refer to it from a sub domain or a sub directory.
Also the following instruction can be used:
I have some 'what is best practice' questions regarding development site.
Thank you in advance for any tips and suggestions!
We have an active website (active = every day content changes because of orders, new products in, old products out, etc…). We are about to buy several different add-ons from the Marketplace but want to configure & test them before Activating them on the live site. Hence the need for a development site.
What is best practice? Here below my thoughts but I'm not sure this is ideal because it involves double work:
- Make a copy of current website and name it Development
- install all the new add-ons, test them, configure them etc.ONLY on the development site
- If we are satisfied after testing, then also install these add-ons to the Live website. And do the reconfiguration again.
- On the Live website, fill the add-ons with content
- make these Add-ons 'Active' on the Live site.
Background info:
Version 4.1.3. We are waiting for 4.2.3 (Options improvements) before we will upgrade
Add-ons we want to get are: MegaMenuPro, PowerBlog, FrontEndEditor, New Arrivals, Direct Enquiry, + some others
Regards,
Olof
Hi Olof,
[quote name='Olof' timestamp='1416567617' post='197600'] What is best practice? Here below my thoughts but I'm not sure this is ideal because it involves double work: 1. Make a copy of current website and name it Development 2. install all the new add-ons, test them, configure them etc.ONLY on the development site 3. If we are satisfied after testing, then also install these add-ons to the Live website. And do the reconfiguration again. 4. On the Live website, fill the add-ons with content 5. make these Add-ons 'Active' on the Live site. [/quote]
It seems that this is the easiest way to test the add-ons before installing them on the live store. Copying the progress from your development server is also possible, but some additional coding is necessary in that case and it may be quite time consuming as well.
So the game is not worth the candle.
Thank you.
thanks for your fast input. 
Thanks for all the help everybody. I appreciate all the generosity with your time!
Interesting topic.
I'm wondering if there will be any issues with licenses etc on the development server?
It checks the license each time you log in, wondering if it will have a problem if its on an internal server that is not accessible from the outside?
Just notify helpdesk of the URL you are using for testing.
[quote name='Qbasix' timestamp='1416955629' post='197970']
Interesting topic.
I'm wondering if there will be any issues with licenses etc on the development server?
It checks the license each time you log in, wondering if it will have a problem if its on an internal server that is not accessible from the outside?
[/quote]
It will not be a problem if your store will not be public. For example, you can close it using the default Close store-front feature