How Do You Manage Dev/Test/Production Environments? 244
An anonymous reader writes "I am a n00b system administrator for a small web development company that builds and hosts OSS CMSes on a few LAMP servers (mostly Drupal). I've written a few scripts that check out dev/test/production environments from our repository, so web developers can access the site they're working on from a URL (ex: site1.developer.example.com). Developers also get FTP access and MySQL access (through phpMyAdmin). Additional scripts check in files to the repository and move files/DBs through the different environments. I'm finding as our company grows (we currently host 50+ sites) it is cumbersome to manage all sites by hacking away at the command prompt. I would like to find a solution with a relatively easy-to-use user interface that provisions dev/test/live environments. The Aegir project is a close fit, but is only for Drupal sites and still under heavy development. Another option is to completely rewrite the scripts (or hire someone to do it for me), but I would much rather use something OSS so I can give back to the community. How have fellow slashdotters managed this process, what systems/scripts have you used, and what advice do you have?"
How slashdot does it (Score:5, Funny)
How have fellow slashdotters managed this process, what systems/scripts have you used, and what advice do you have?"
I do the same as Slashdot.org does - Make the changes on live code, except a little downtime and weird effects and then try to fix
it - while actually never fixing it. After all the results are not that significant:
- if someone posts about it on a thread, mods will -1 offtopic it and no one will hear your complain
- many people will "lol fail" at the weird effects, like when kdawson decides to merge two different stories together [slashdot.org]
Acronym hell... (Score:1, Funny)
I am a n00b system administrator for a small web development company that builds and hosts OSS CMSes on a few LAMP servers (mostly Drupal). I've written a few scripts that check out dev/test/production environments from our repository, so web developers can access the site they're working on from a URL (ex: site1.developer.example.com). Developers also get FTP access and MySQL access (through phpMyAdmin). Additional scripts check in files to the repository and move files/DBs [...]
If you have a WYSIWYG front end done DIY style then you need to CYA and RTFM, simply because the newer style AJAX IDEs dont support IDEA. Make sure that you mind your P's and Q's, or the FBI will make you MIA thanks to the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. act. It's pretty much a PEBKAC issue. Oh, did I mention that you should leverage as many TLA's as possible?
Re:You are not a n00b (Score:3, Funny)
Slashdot and this company ... (Score:3, Funny)