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[Hosting] Staging database/files selection

3

For staging, I would like the ability to exclude certain database tables or files when pushing from staging to production, to make sure that orders/memberships do not get overwritten.

Wed, 27 Mar 2024 15:22:14
    • Alfredo Galano Loyola
      • Staff

      Hello Leni Neto
      I hope you are doing well today.

      The most common scenario to use a Staging site is for testing and to re-design the site.
      When it’s about testing there is no need to move the Staging site to Live, but when you make changes on the Staging site and want to apply those in the Live site, then it is mandatory to move the Staging site to Live.
      While working on the site design there is 90% of the time, depending on what kind of changes are made to the site those changes get stored in the Post table, so, there are just a few works that do not modify the Post table. Those are usually based on Custom Code and could be possible to manually copy the files from Staging to Live without using the tool.

      In the resume, there is a big chance the Post table gets modified while working on the Staging site, excluding it could cause none of the changes to get applied in the Live site.

      Best regards,
      Alfredo

      • Leni Neto
        • Site Builder, Child of Zeus

        Hi Alfredo Galano Loyola
        I appreciate your input. I’m fully aware of the usage of a staging site, and it’s really useful when testing updates and making design and or code changes.
        However, during the time we’re working on the staging site, content is being produced on the production site, which means when the staging is ready, we can’t simply push it to production or we will lose all the content produced in the meantime.
        That’s exactly why Blake Whittle suggestion is so important. This would allow us to push staging to production when it’s ready, without overwriting existing content on production.

        Same goes for WooCommerce orders, and any other custom post type.

  • Alfredo Galano Loyola
    • Staff

    Hello Blake Whittle

    I hope you are doing well and thank you for reaching us with your feature request.

    We understand the importance of being able to exclude certain files and database tables from the synchronization process from staging to the live site.

    I will pass this suggestion to our development team for consideration in future updates. In the meantime, if you have any other questions or need assistance with anything else, please don’t hesitate to let me know.

    Best regards,
    Alfredo

  • Rachael
    • Site Builder, Child of Zeus

    This is a standard option for staging pushes/pulls on other platforms, as well as in plugins that offer this. It’s surprising that it’s not an option here. I’m also surprised that there was pushback in the initial comment from wpmu.

    Please add this capability to the roadmap. Like mentioned above, there is a lot of activity on the live site that we should have control over whether or not it gets deleted during the staging push. Another example is form submissions. Those get reset to whatever is on staging, so anyone who reached out during that troubleshooting period is removed from that table.

  • Rakib Hossain
    • Support FLS

    Hello Rachael ,

    I trust your day is going well. Thank you for providing your feedback!

    I wanted to inform you that we already have a feature request task for this. Unfortunately, we do not have a specific timeline for its release at the moment. Rest assured, I will communicate your concerns to our hosting team to ensure this task is given proper attention.

    Best regards,
    Rakib