Setting Up a Staging Environment

What Is a Staging Environment?

A staging environment is a private copy of your website used for testing changes before applying them to your live (production) site. This prevents broken updates, plugin conflicts, or design issues from affecting your visitors.

Why Use a Staging Site?

• Test WordPress updates, plugin updates, and theme changes safely.
• Develop new features or redesign pages without affecting the live site.
• Test PHP version upgrades to ensure compatibility before switching.
• Allow clients to review changes before they go live.

Setting Up a Staging Site on SillyHost

Option 1: Subdomain Method

1. Log in to DirectAdmin and create a new subdomain, e.g., staging.yourdomain.com.
2. Copy your live website files from public_html to the staging subdomain's directory.
3. Export your live database and import it into a new database for the staging site.
4. Update the staging site's configuration file (e.g., wp-config.php for WordPress) to use the new database and URL.
5. Do a search-and-replace in the staging database to update URLs from your live domain to the staging subdomain.

Option 2: WordPress Staging Plugins

If you are running WordPress, plugins like WP Staging or UpdraftPlus can automate the staging process:

1. Install the staging plugin on your live WordPress site.
2. Click Create Staging Site and follow the wizard.
3. The plugin will create a complete copy of your site in a separate directory.

Protecting Your Staging Site

• Add password protection using .htaccess to prevent public access.
• Add a noindex meta tag or use robots.txt to prevent search engines from indexing the staging site.
• Use a different colour scheme or admin bar notice so you can easily distinguish staging from production.

Deploying Changes

Once you are satisfied with the changes on staging, copy the modified files and database changes to your live site. Always take a backup of the live site before deploying.