Configuring a Beta Test Environment

Looking for advice on how to allow users to Beta test new changes to a site prior to going production. This is just the conventional Beta scenario. Imagine a new version of the site has been developed with changes to PHP, JS, CSS, templates, modules, etc. Want to have real users experience the new version for a few weeks. Once the Beta is over will migrate the changes to the production environment.

To wit, how should we configure jamroom to provide a production and a Beta test environment?

( Could not find this topic in the forum. )


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TiG
updated by @tig: 11/24/17 09:14:56AM

The best way to do this is to setup a secondary install of Jamroom on your server - i.e.

staging.yourdomain.com

That way you can update and push new code/content to your "staging" site. Once you are happy with how it works, push it to your production site.

Note that with JR hosting this is really easy to do - just create the second dev domain and one click "import" your live site to the dev site to get a complete copy of your production site for testing.

Let me know if that helps.


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Brian Johnson
Founder and Lead Developer - Jamroom
https://www.jamroom.net

@brian - Thanks, that is exactly the advice I was looking for. Given that, with Jamroom hosting I could create a Beta site for verification and an Alpha site for development. All neatly contained in the same Jamroom hosting environment. Am I on the right track?


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TiG

Correct - you can create as many different test sites (alpha, beta, staging, etc) as you have disk space for on your hosted server, so it's super easy.


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Brian Johnson
Founder and Lead Developer - Jamroom
https://www.jamroom.net

@brian - Is there a way to create these sites without copying the database contents? It seems 'Import a Jamroom Site' will transfer the database contents.


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TiG

sure, you could set them up as independent sites without doing the import, then they will all have unique data.

@michael - How would I ensure the code is identical? I was misunderstanding I suppose but I thought the import was a one-step method to create an identical site. I would like to avoid synchronizing code via a massive SFTP cycle.


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TiG

for me, I use phpstorm.

I use the same codebase in phpstorm, along with the GIT version control system. When I work on a site, I open the REMOTE HOST panel in phpstorm and select all the module folders in the /modules directory then choose "sync with local".

If I've just pulled the latest from the repository and know my server is older than my local, I select all the files and choose copy-to-server to push them all up to the online site.

Inside the ACP there is a tool at:
ACP -> MODULES -> DEVELOPER -> TOOLS -> REBASE MODULES

Which I find very useful. If you're site is getting updates via the jamroom marketplace then new code will becoming into phpstorm via this route:
MARKETPLACE -> SITE -> PHPSTORM

in which case whenever the marketplace is updated you get another copy of the module so you end up with:
/modules/jrSomeModule
/modules/jrSomeModule-release-1.0.1
/modules/jrSomeModule-release-1.0.2
/modules/jrSomeModule-release-1.0.3

Which doesnt work well with GIT, so use that tool to move just the latest version from
/modules/jrSomeModule-release-1.0.3
to
/modules/jrSomeModule

Then download to your local dev environment. Then use that to upload to your other sites.

Jamroom hosting allows for a selection of server locations, im in tokyo, and so is my server so SFTP is very fast.

Get a server that is close to you.

oh, if you just want to keep the code the same, then use the marketplace for updates.

@michael - As usual, thanks for the wealth of information. I am sorry that I was not clear. What I seek to do is basic. I literally want to copy the code (not the data) from an existing site to a new site within a single jamroom hosted account. The existing site is production, the new site will be the development site. This is just an initial setup, not ongoing operation.

I have created the new site so the base code is there. All I want to do is copy code from the production site to the development site so that they start off identically (except, of course, for the data).

I can of course do this manually via SFTP. **And if that is the recommended approach I am good with it.** But if there is a better approach (one that does a server level copy rather than dealing with downloads and uploads) I of course would use it.

In short, is there an existing function that will server-level copy code (but not the data) from one jamroom hosted site (production) to another jamroom hosted site (development) within the same account?

And again, I appreciate the fact that you take time to answer our questions.


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TiG

Got it. answer is no, there is not currently a method to copy files internally from one folder on the server to another folder on the server.

The official way to do that would be via SFTP. (because the servers do not come with SSH access)

@michael - Thanks for the confirmation. I will make my plans accordingly. Easily addressed.


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TiG