Hi all.
Let me start with a big disclaimer: although I have a fair amount of frontend experience, I have zero experience with WP.
I got a new project updating an existing website that runs on WP, both new design and new functionality. Because the current website is live and running, I got myself a new server as a sort of dev/staging env to develop on until the release date.
I need to keep the existing database, the users and whatnot, while at the same time adding these new features. How should I go about doing that? I was thinking of getting a snapshot of the current production db to use while i develop the new website and add the new plugins and features, and work like that. But then what do I do once I’m ready to go live? I assume different plugins that I might install will change the db, so I can’t just drop all my php files in the prod server and hope for the best?
Also, related, is this a common way of doing things? I have no control over the current live server or domain, I can’t really create a staging subdomain in there.
Sorry if these are the beginner-iest of questions, but that’s where I’m at right now.
[ad_2]
First of all get a snapshot with all in one migration plugin. It backups everything you can think, database users blogposts and export that data.
After that you can use one of the under maintenance plugins for trying some new things without getting attention the client.
If you break the site off or do some critical mistakes, you can go back to the snapshot everytime you want.