> > Having a staging environment with a daily dump of live data and software > > would be nice. you can mess with the data as much as you want. > > Sure, but at some point I have to make the code go live. And when I do > that I want to run the modules tests on the live server (who knowns what > subtle differences may have snuck in) before I turn it live live. > > You get the idea.
Yeah, I know... there's a big gap between theory and practice here. However, it can be done: we have been using a staging environment mirroring the live environment for more than 1 year. We test changes on staging and do a blanket copy of staging to live. Live is updated exclusively that way. >From time to time, we do also a blanket copy from live to staging, just to ensure they are in sync. That involves a rigid system administration which can be annoying sometimes, but it also provides peace of mind, which is priceless. Pierre
