XF 1.5 Test Board Questions

[Tott3]

Hi, I've used Xenforo for quite a while now, but I have never used any "test installation".
Now I'd like to set one up in a sub domain, the F.A.Q says it has to be password protected, how do I do this the easiest way?
As there's no mention that unchecking "Board is Active" is enough, brings me to the question, what's the difference from doing that and password protecting it? As I understand it, this also closes the board to the public.

 

[Amaury]

Simply turning the forum off will still allow visitors to visit the site, whereas password protecting the site means that only those with the password can view it. A test site is only allowed to be accessed by staff.

 

[Mr Lucky]

Hi, I've used Xenforo for quite a while now, but I have never used any "test installation".
Now I'd like to set one up in a sub domain, the F.A.Q says it has to be password protected, how do I do this the easiest way?
As there's no mention that unchecking "Board is Active" is enough, brings me to the question, what's the difference from doing that and password protecting it? As I understand it, this also closes the board to the public.

I do it via cpanel Files > Directory privacy. You set a username and password that can make any directory private (in this case you would apply it to the root of that subdomain

You can also do it "manually" with .htaccess:

https://www.addedbytes.com/blog/code/password-protect-a-directory-with-htaccess/

 

[Tott3]

Simply turning the forum off will still allow visitors to visit the site, whereas password protecting the site means that only those with the password can view it. A test site is only allowed to be accessed by staff.

Ah okay, so basically they can't even view the site at all even if it's disabled with just a text on it. It has to be completely off.

I do it via cpanel Files > Directory privacy. You set a username and password that can make any directory private (in this case you would apply it to the root of that subdomain

You can also do it "manually" with .htaccess:

https://www.addedbytes.com/blog/code/password-protect-a-directory-with-htaccess/

Cheers. I'll just do it manually, not using cpanel.

 

[xenfans]

Don't forget that if you clone your site you might want to set up "do not send out emails" from the config.php so your members aren't getting any "test" emails they shouldn't get. https://xenforo.com/help/config-php-options/

As admin you could also set your forum to inactive, this allows your test setup to also limit access to admins and moderators who can then see it (but members and guests can't).

 

[Paul B]

There's a guide here which covers the steps when duplicating a site as a test site: https://xenforo.com/community/resources/how-to-duplicate-a-live-site-to-use-as-a-test-site.2792/

 

[Tott3]

There's a guide here which covers the steps when duplicating a site as a test site: https://xenforo.com/community/resources/how-to-duplicate-a-live-site-to-use-as-a-test-site.2792/

Thanks, but I don't want to duplicate it. I want to rework the entire site pretty much, so I guess I could just fresh install it and then duplicate it backwards.