How to duplicate a live site to use as a test site

[Paul B]

See the resource for the most up to date instructions.

How to duplicate a live site to use as a test site

These instructions explain how to create a test installation which is an exact duplicate of your live installation. On Your Server Create a new test database with a different database name, user name and password to your live installation...

xenforo.com

 

[Kintaro]

Good point @The Sandman, that has caught more than a few people out.

please update this resource with info about adding an opcode cache prefix
Thank you

 

[Paul B]

It's already there.

 

[Kintaro]

Opssss! I didn't read the rows but only the php bbcode

 

[Diana]

This is the part where I'm stumped:

• Edit the /library/config.php file in your new /test directory

I just need to change the database in the config file. Where/how do I do that? Do I re-install the config file to the "test" folder, or do I manually make changes in a text file and upload it?

 

[Paul B]

You create the duplicate/test database first, then edit the config.php file with the details.

You can edit the file various ways - it depends how you are comfortable doing it.
The easiest way is to download it to your computer, edit it using something like Notepad++, then upload it again.

 

[Diana]

You create the duplicate/test database first, then edit the config.php file with the details.

You can edit the file various ways - it depends how you are comfortable doing it.
The easiest way is to download it to your computer, edit it using something like Notepad++, then upload it again.

Thanks Brogan, I'll do that.

 

[Diana]

Once again Brogan, thank you. That worked.

Life is good.

 

[Diana]

Well, life is not so good today as I'm encountering some glitches since I had the test forum copied to a main forum.

New members can't confirm email registration on the new forum (works fine on the test forum).

This is the error message:

Not Found
The requested URL /index.php was not found on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

I'm not sure what to look for. There are a number of index.php files in the folder.

 

[Diana]

Well, life is not so good today as I'm encountering some glitches since I had the test forum copied to a main forum.

New members can't confirm email registration on the new forum (works fine on the test forum).

This is the error message:

Not Found
The requested URL /index.php was not found on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

I'm not sure what to look for. There are a number of index.php files in the folder.

Hmm... looks like all I had to do was add /forum to the URL in Basic Board Information to get the email confirmation to work.

 

[Paul B]

The instructions in the resource have changing the Board URL as one of the required steps.

 

[Mr Lucky]

A couple of things to note (that caught me out)

• I had to disable BD cache and remove the code it adds to config.php (not just change the prefix)
• With emails disabled in config.php, you won't get the two step verification code

 

[stacy.c]

Thanks so much for the guide @Brogan — I'm preparing for a 1.4 > 1.5 upgrade and want to test thoroughly.

I was thinking of setting up a separate (sub)domain, like "test.mysite.com" and installing there.

Is it better to just create a "www.mysite.com/test/" directory? I want to be very careful not to impact my production site with this, so I thought creating a separate domain would isolate things better.

Suggestions? Thank you.

 

[rdn]

Is it better to just create a "www.mysite.com/test/" directory? I want to be very careful not to impact my production site with this, so I thought creating a separate domain would isolate things better.

Suggestions? Thank you.

Either sub domain or sub directory will do the same.

 

[stacy.c]

Either sub domain or sub directory will do the same.

Thanks!

 

[davs]

The step: make a "test" directory goes where?

Under public_html along with the others like library,data,install,styles?

So in your file manager it would look like this?

public_html
-data
-install
-library
-styles
-and so on
-test

 

[Paul B]

You can put it wherever you like.

That would work.

 

[davs]

Does this get left exactly like this or do you fill in between the ' ' ?

$config['enableMail'] = false;

$config['cookie'] = array(
'prefix' => 'test_',
'path' => '/',
'domain' => ''
);

 

[davs]

How do you get to view the test site to change board options? I go to http://....my site domain...com/test and get this:

Index of /test

• Parent Directory
• cgi-bin/
• data/
• install/
• js/
• misc/
• styles/

Apache Server at www.my domain.com Port 80

 

[Paul B]

It should load the index page automatically.
If it doesn't, append /index.php to the URL.

If it still doesn't work then the installation isn't working correctly.

 

[Mr Lucky]

Does this get left exactly like this or do you fill in between the ' ' ?

$config['enableMail'] = false;

$config['cookie'] = array(
'prefix' => 'test_',
'path' => '/',
'domain' => ''
);

I wondered this as well. I tried putting the test domain name in and got an error, so since then I leave it out. Seems to work.