Or, Stop Being A Cowboy Coder We'll be looking at ways to simplify everything in sync. This way, we can benefit from a local, staging and production workflow, but we want to make sure we spend as little time as possible managing it.

1. KEEPING LOCAL, STAGING &
PRODUCTION SITES IN SYNC
Or, Stop Being A Cowboy Coder!

2. HI! I’M DAVID
Malaysia
blogjunkie
ClickWP
≃10 yearsƁ

3. STOP BEING A
COWBOY CODER

4. FRAMING THE
DISCUSSION

5. Work on a staging copy
of the site instead
Editing code on live sites
is dangerous

6. production site
pro·duc·tion | prə-ˈdək-shən
The live version of your site,
available to public audiences

7. staging site
sta·ging | stey-jing
A test copy of the site, for
testing and QA of new code,
design or features

8. Make changes to a local copy,
then sync to staging / production
It's inefficient to make direct
changes to sites on the web

9. local development site
de·vel·op·ment | di-ˈve-ləp-mənt
A copy of the site for creating or
producing new features and/or
designs in a safe and portable
environment

10. Use DesktopServer or MAMP
It's difficult to run local copies of sites

11. I’ve got some recommendations
to make it easier
Syncing updates is difficult

12. Move changes upstream
push
staging production
new changes

13. Copy changes downstream
pull
staging production
new changes

14. STOP BEING A COWBOY

15. HOW TO CREATE
STAGING SITES

16. WEB HOSTS WITH 1-CLICK STAGING
• WP Engine
• SiteGround
• Flywheel
• Pressable
• Media Temple
• GoDaddy

17. MANUAL STAGING COPY
• Copy, export, import and scrub
database
• Use a backup + migration plugin e.g.
Duplicator (free) or BackupBuddy
(premium)

18. HOW TO CREATE
LOCAL DEV SITES

19. • DesktopServer
• MAMP / XAMPP / WAMP
• Virtual machines e.g. Vagrant

20. SYNCING CHANGES

21. Create staging copy
5GB / 30 mins
Sync changes to production
5GB / 30 mins

22. a-wp-site.com
UPLOADS
DBFILES

23. WHAT CHANGED?
ACTION CHANGED
Edited theme files Files (theme)
Changed theme or plugin settings Database
Switched themes Files (theme) + Database
Publish new post Database + Uploads

24. SYNC CHANGES ONLY
Even for staging sites; no need to create
new staging site each time
Uploads don’t need to be synced as much
Take care not to overwrite user generated
content e.g. comments

25. HOW TO SYNC

26. GUIDELINES TO LIVE BY
Always. Backup. Production.
Database replacements should only go
production → staging / dev
Deploy from dev to production if possible
(avoid staging)

27. EASY WAYS TO SYNC

28. FTP client

29. WP MIGRATE DB PRO
• Push and pull databases
• Media add-on will even sync files
• Starts at $90/yr - deliciousbrains.com
• Alternate, free fork = WP Sync DB
github.com/wp-­‐sync-­‐db/wp-­‐sync-­‐db

30. WP Sync DB / WP Migrate DB Pro

31. DUPLICATOR PLUGIN
• Cannot sync changes only
• Geared at technical audience
• Great free alternative
• https://wordpress.org/plugins/
duplicator/

32. BACKUPBUDDY DEPLOYMENT
• Sync changes from / to development,
staging and production
• Push and pull selected themes, plugins
and database tables
• A little iffy, not 100% reliable
• https://ithemes.com/wordpress-­‐
backup-­‐plugin-­‐for-­‐developers/

36. ADVANCED
WAYS TO SYNC

37. RSYNC + WP MIGRATE DB PRO
rsync
-­‐avh
./wp-­‐content/themes/
user@stagingserver.com:/path/to/wp-­‐content/themes/
Transfer files from dev to staging
Then push database to staging with
WP Migrate DB Pro

38. WORDMOVE
• Ruby gem that automatically syncs local
and remote site files and DB
• “Think of it like Capistrano for
WordPress, complete with push/pull
capabilities”
• Can’t selectively push/pull DB tables
• https://github.com/welaika/wordmove

39. PRO TIPS

40. ZIPPED FILES UPLOAD FASTER
UPLOAD PACKAGE TIME
wordpress-4.2.2.zip
1 file / 6.9MB
30 seconds
WordPress, unzipped
1,311 files / 26.1MB
15 minutes

41. DON’T SYNC UPLOADS
#
~/wp-­‐content/uploads/.htaccess
RewriteEngine
on
RewriteCond
%{REQUEST_FILENAME}
!-­‐d
RewriteCond
%{REQUEST_FILENAME}
!-­‐f
#
Production
site
lives
at
http://example.com
RewriteRule
(.*)
http://example.com/wp-­‐content/uploads/$1
Load uploads from production with .htaccess
Alternatively, use the Uploads by Proxy plugin
wordpress.org/plugins/uploads-­‐by-­‐proxy/

42. DISABLE PLUGINS ON DEV / STAGING
if
(
defined(
'WP_LOCAL_DEV'
)
&&
WP_LOCAL_DEV
)
{
new
CWS_Disable_Plugins_When_Local_Dev(
array(
'google-­‐analyticator/google-­‐analyticator.php',
'vaultpress/vaultpress.php',
'w3-­‐total-­‐cache/w3-­‐total-­‐cache.php',
'wordfence/wordfence.php',
'wordpress-­‐https/wordpress-­‐https.php',
)
);
}
https://markjaquith.wordpress.com/
2011/06/24/wordpress-­‐local-­‐dev-­‐tips/

43. WP LOCAL TOOLBOX
• Control your dev, staging and live
environments without touching the DB
• Can disable plugins, but needs to modify
wp-config.php file
• wordpress.org/plugins/wp-­‐local-­‐toolbox/

44. MY WORKFLOW

45. EXAMPLE SITES
Local Dev localhost/genesiscamp
Staging genesiscamp.clickwpstaging.com
Production www.epikwebsite.com

46. Modern WordPress Workflow
teamtreehouse.com / referrals.trhou.se/blogjunkie
DesktopServer
www.serverpress.com
Wordmove
github.com/welaika/wordmove
BackupBuddy
ithemes.com/backupbuddy/
WP Sync DB
github.com/wp-­‐sync-­‐db/wp-­‐sync-­‐db

47. THANK YOU SERVERPRESS!
Use coupon code
genesiscamp
to save 20% on DesktopServer
www.serverpress.com

48. THANK YOU!
@blogjunkie / clickwp.com