Dev vs Live Site Syncing

5 posts by 2 authors in: Forums > CMS Builder
Last Post: July 1, 2015   (RSS)

By theclicklab - July 1, 2015

Hi there everyone,

I am working on a site upgrade which will probably take a month to get completed. During this time the live site will be continuously updated while there will be a number of changes to the dev site (new fields etc). How hard is it to merge all the database changes from the live site to the dev site once everything is done? Or do I need to tell the client they have to update both sites? Many Thanks

By Dave - July 1, 2015

Hi theclicklab, 

Adding fields is easy, you just upload your new schemas.  Renaming or deleting fields is a bit more complicated.

When you're ready, what I'd do is make a backup of the live site (dev2) and try upgrading that site first to see where you might run into any problems.

And also, make sure backup live (both MySQL and FTP) before making any changes.

One last trick, you can use a file compare tool (like winmerge.com) to compare schema files in /data/schema/ to see what has changed between two sites.  I often do that rather than visually comparing when trying to determine what has been changed.

Hope that helps!

Dave Edis - Senior Developer
interactivetools.com

By theclicklab - July 1, 2015

OK Thanks Dave, does uploading modified schemas update the DB as well?

By theclicklab - July 1, 2015

Thats a great explanation and really helpful. Thanks!!