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

 

[Jeremy P]

Make sure the data and internal_data directories of your test installation are writable by the user PHP runs as.

 

[CZ Eddie]

Make sure the data and internal_data directories of your test installation are writable by the user PHP runs as.

Hmm, unless I missed a step, I'd think it should be the same user and permissions that my live forum runs?
I'll Google around to see how to verify this.

 

[CZ Eddie]

Hey, you were on it!

The user was okay but some folders had the wrong permissions and required chmod 777 on them.
Now I am logged into test/admin.php

Thanks!

 

[CZ Eddie]

Hey, kudo's #2!
Once I got into MySite.org/test/admin.php, disabling cannolis fixed my other issue also!

 

[rosal]

What is the best option to create backup bd and import to a new database test?
Some information i have cpanel, and SSH, xenforo 1.5 the database in use shows "utf8_general_ci".

Can cpanel can do this backup and then restore, or is better by command line mysqldump?
What is the correct command?

 

[Paul B]

Always use SSH/CLI and mysqldump if you can.

cPanel/phpMyAdmin is not ideal for backing up and restoring databases.

 

[rosal]

Always use SSH/CLI and mysqldump if you can.

cPanel/phpMyAdmin is not ideal for backing up and restoring databases.

Thanks, i use utf8_general_ci in the collation i have to convert to utf8mb4_general_ci to use xenforo 2?

MySQL Collation

I've never really bothered much when it came to the 'collation' setting in MySQL. But I noticed I had a lot of mixed values. Including some old latin value. I've read up a little and I've come down to these 4 utf8_unicode_ci utf8_unicode_520_ci utf8mb4_unicode_ci utf8mb4 unicode 520_ci From...

xenforo.com

 

[Paul B]

Only if you want emoji support.

Emoji support | Manual | XenForo

End-user documentation for XenForo

xenforo.com

 

[rosal]

What is the best linux command to copy folders to another location with same attributes?

Example to copy folder data and all files and folders inside.

Source: /home/user/public_html/data
Destination: /home/user/public_html/newforum/data

This is right?
cp -avr /home/user/public_html/data /home/user/public_html/newforum/data

 

[Frode789]

When creating a new SQL database in XAMPP, where do I enter the username and password settings?

 

[Paul B]

I haven't used xampp for years but I think it defaults to root/root.

Otherwise there is a link in the xampp control panel to change it.

 

[NinaMcI]

I've upgraded from XF1.5.2 to XF 2.1 on a test subdomain installation of my site. I've installed a number of add-ons and made some customisations to the style and some templates on the XF 2 test installation. When I'm ready, I want to upgrade my live site to XF 2.1 too. Am I right in thinking that I can use an importer to import all the changes and add-ons from my test installation to my live site?

 

[Paul B]

Am I right in thinking that I can use an importer to import all the changes and add-ons from my test installation to my live site?

No.

You upgrade the live site in exactly the same way that you upgraded the test site.

Doing it on the test site first allows you to document the steps and prepare for any changes which are required.

 

[NinaMcI]

No.

You upgrade the live site in exactly the same way that you upgraded the test site.

Doing it on the test site first allows you to document the steps and prepare for any changes which are required.

Thanks for the swift reply. I wish I'd asked the question sooner as I haven't documented the changes

 

[NinaMcI]

No.

You upgrade the live site in exactly the same way that you upgraded the test site.

Doing it on the test site first allows you to document the steps and prepare for any changes which are required.

If I upgrade the live site, is it not possible to then follow the Plesk instructions below:

When the site copy in the staging environment is updated and ready to go live, publish it as described in the following steps.

To publish the updated site to the production environment:

1. Go to Websites & Domains.
2. In the list of domain names, locate the address of your production site and click it.
3. In the Document root box, specify the document root directory of the staging site.
4. Click OK.

This will make the updated site copy in the staging site location accessible to visitors of your production site address.

 

[Paul B]

Brogan updated How to duplicate a live site to use as a test site with a new update entry:

Useful config.php switches

Here are some useful src/config.php switches for a test site.

Refer to the manual for more information and other switches.

Config.php options | Manual | XenForo

End-user documentation for XenForo

xenforo.com

The first two switches I would consider to be essential for a test site.

Disable outgoing email.

$config['enableMail'] = false;

Set a different cookie prefix to avoid interfering with the production site if the test site is on the same domain (e.g. example.com and...

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[Alan_SP]

Strange thing, when I click on Discussion tab, I loose all other tabs (Overview Updates (1) Reviews (10) Discussion). Is this some XF2.2 bug or feature?

 

[Paul B]

This looks to be a change in 2.2, likely related to the forum type being question threads.

 

[Alan_SP]

Yes, looks like that. It would be better that old way is retained even for this thread type. It's more logical and consistent (not to mention, much easier to access other tabs)

 

[Paul B]

The thread would have to be moved to another forum, which allows for general thread types.