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I want to take on a project, but I’m not sure how to handle the updating process.

Normally, when asked to update a site, you back-up the database & site files, then make the updates locally or on a development server. Then when the updates are finished, you push them live.

My problem is that the site I’ll be working on registers new members every day, makes blog posts every day, and gets new comments on those posts every day. If I were to pull the site on Monday, update it in a testing environment, then push those changes live on Friday, every member who signed up and blog entry written during the week would be overwritten.

So what’s the best way to go about doing this? How do I update/add features to a site without losing the data gained on the live site during development? Surely it must be possible, since high-traffic sites like TechCrunch and Gizmodo make huge sitewide updates all the time without losing data.

kmgdev
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It depends on what changes you're making. Is it file/template changes or database changes?

If it's just file changes, just pull the files and database to your local server, make changes to your files and then just push them (files only) to the live server when done. As long as no database changes have happened, that will work.

If there are db changes, things get a bit trickier. You would basically follow the same process, but make note of any db changes you are making on the local site. when everything is ready to be pushed to the live server, you have no other option but to take the site offline for users while you update.

You would then push all updated files to live server, and mirror any db changes you did on the local server (install/update plugins etc). When all that is done and tested, you can then put the site online again. Downtime should be minimal if you have made good notes on db changes.

This is dependant on being able to block access to users but still allow access for yourself, but that's standard with most CMSs.

Also, if you dont already you should look at integrating git into your workflow. If the changes you'll be making take a considerable amount of time you'll need a system in place where you can branch your code off into new versions while still keeping the original state of code that's on the live server.

That way, if there is an urgent fix that needs doing to the live site while your in the middle of developing new features locally, you can switch back to your master/original branch and make changes to the code that doesn't include any of the new stuff you have been working on the other branch.

willmcc
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Well, I've only done this for small traffic wordpress/drupal sites, but not having a "live" version hasn't been an issue for me. I have my development copy, make test the changes I want, and then roll those changes out to the live site on the fly by FTPing' them back up.

Are you going to be editing these registrations? Or are you just tweaking static files?

In the case of wordpress, I test a plugin out, and then just install it on the live site. Typically the changes I'm making involve plugins/modules and some PHP stuff. This is obviously not the most nuanced solution, and I'm interested to see what more knowledgeable people have in mind.

Nick Tomlin
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