Hello Wordpress users,
for newcomers to the webmaster scene like me it is always hard to figure out how a blog should look like, wich things are needed, wich not and so on. Also there are always things to make better, from minor css changes in the teme to creating child theme files to fit the needs of the website. However, of course you should never touch a running system! It could take a while to figure out what causes an error. The best way to prevent the user from getting error messages is a testing environment where you can test every change, every plugin, every css customisation. And it is not hard to set up!
So here's the actual how to:
-First we need the Wordpress Duplicator plugin, this will be the last plugin you have to install untested! :fly:
-OK once installed we go to the dashboard and at the bottom of the left sidebar we will find the Duplicator, we click it.
-Now we see a message telling us that no backups were found, it also tells us to click the create button, thats what we do.
-A layer opens up where we can type in the file name under wich we want the backup to be saved. Also you can pre check the size of the zip that will be created (it claims to be 2x as big as it is in the end in my case). If you want to you can also add notes.
-OK once we typed in the name and everything we click "Create Package Set", the layer disappears and we now can see a loading animation, the operation can take upto several minutes.
-Once the operation is finished we're being redirected to a list (with only one entry since we only created one backup:-=), in this list on the right for every entry are two buttons: "Installer" and "Package", if you click them you can download those files, thats what we do now.
-OK once we've downloaded the backup zip and the installer.php we just put them where we want our testing environment to be located at. (e.g. domain.tld/test or test.domain.tld), now this is important, i've freaked out because of this:
:thunder:DO NOT PASSWORD PROTECT THE DIRECTORY VIA .HTACCESS BEFORE YOU HAVE INSTALLED THE BACKUP:thunder:
-OK now we point our browser to where we placed the files, we need to run the install.php
-now we have to enter our database details, do not enter the same tetails as for the original installation!!!
-you can also check the left checkbox, the second one can also be checked but it is only needed if the database already exists (if you install a backup again), as I was writing this right here I forgot to remove the directory password protection again, i just nearly freaked out again since i'm tired and it took me some time to figure out the problem. If the directory is protected it will always put out: "Database connection failed".
-If the connection check was successfull we check the checkbox at the bottom (I've read all warnings & notices), this is the point where I tell you: proceed on your own risk! }:-) OK once the box is checked we click "Run Deployment", we eill get an alert in some cases (belongs to the settings), just click OK.
-OK aftter the deployment we will be asked for the new url and sitename, they will be autofilled. I recommend you to use any name wich is not similar to the one of your original one, so you will always know if you are on the original or on the copy
-We click run update, after some loading we are redirected to a page with the heading "Important final steps"
-Always do the first two steps, (set the permalinks and delete installer files), the other steps are optional (the third one is good to do too)
-now point your browser to the test directory, you should see the copy right in front of you
-DO NOT FORGET TO PASSWORD PROTECT THE DIRECTORY, THERE THOUSANDS OF TUTORIALS AND YOU CAN EASILY LET CPANEL DO THIS JOB FOR YOU
-Stand up, scream loud, do the gangnam dance (listen to wjunction radio while dancing)
:psy::psy::psy::psy::psy::psy::psy::psy::psy::psy::psy::psy::psy:
I hope i could help you,
Bronko
for newcomers to the webmaster scene like me it is always hard to figure out how a blog should look like, wich things are needed, wich not and so on. Also there are always things to make better, from minor css changes in the teme to creating child theme files to fit the needs of the website. However, of course you should never touch a running system! It could take a while to figure out what causes an error. The best way to prevent the user from getting error messages is a testing environment where you can test every change, every plugin, every css customisation. And it is not hard to set up!
So here's the actual how to:
-First we need the Wordpress Duplicator plugin, this will be the last plugin you have to install untested! :fly:
-OK once installed we go to the dashboard and at the bottom of the left sidebar we will find the Duplicator, we click it.
-Now we see a message telling us that no backups were found, it also tells us to click the create button, thats what we do.
-A layer opens up where we can type in the file name under wich we want the backup to be saved. Also you can pre check the size of the zip that will be created (it claims to be 2x as big as it is in the end in my case). If you want to you can also add notes.
-OK once we typed in the name and everything we click "Create Package Set", the layer disappears and we now can see a loading animation, the operation can take upto several minutes.
-Once the operation is finished we're being redirected to a list (with only one entry since we only created one backup:-=), in this list on the right for every entry are two buttons: "Installer" and "Package", if you click them you can download those files, thats what we do now.
-OK once we've downloaded the backup zip and the installer.php we just put them where we want our testing environment to be located at. (e.g. domain.tld/test or test.domain.tld), now this is important, i've freaked out because of this:
:thunder:DO NOT PASSWORD PROTECT THE DIRECTORY VIA .HTACCESS BEFORE YOU HAVE INSTALLED THE BACKUP:thunder:
-OK now we point our browser to where we placed the files, we need to run the install.php
-now we have to enter our database details, do not enter the same tetails as for the original installation!!!
-you can also check the left checkbox, the second one can also be checked but it is only needed if the database already exists (if you install a backup again), as I was writing this right here I forgot to remove the directory password protection again, i just nearly freaked out again since i'm tired and it took me some time to figure out the problem. If the directory is protected it will always put out: "Database connection failed".
-If the connection check was successfull we check the checkbox at the bottom (I've read all warnings & notices), this is the point where I tell you: proceed on your own risk! }:-) OK once the box is checked we click "Run Deployment", we eill get an alert in some cases (belongs to the settings), just click OK.
-OK aftter the deployment we will be asked for the new url and sitename, they will be autofilled. I recommend you to use any name wich is not similar to the one of your original one, so you will always know if you are on the original or on the copy
-We click run update, after some loading we are redirected to a page with the heading "Important final steps"
-Always do the first two steps, (set the permalinks and delete installer files), the other steps are optional (the third one is good to do too)
-now point your browser to the test directory, you should see the copy right in front of you
-DO NOT FORGET TO PASSWORD PROTECT THE DIRECTORY, THERE THOUSANDS OF TUTORIALS AND YOU CAN EASILY LET CPANEL DO THIS JOB FOR YOU
-Stand up, scream loud, do the gangnam dance (listen to wjunction radio while dancing)
:psy::psy::psy::psy::psy::psy::psy::psy::psy::psy::psy::psy::psy:
I hope i could help you,
Bronko