"Staging" / "Beta" Site Allowed
 

Am I allowed to have a separate private "staging" or "beta" site install to test any crucial changes before I make live changes? (I sure hope so, I am very new at all this)

You are allowed to have a test area provided it is private meaning it is not accessible from the internet

Hi Chuck,

By that do you mean not accessible by anyone but the owner (i.e. password protected area) or does it have to be on a local machine?

Password protected is fine; just not to be used in a "production environment" where you have users using the product actively. Purely for staging/testing only.

Thanks Michael, prompt as always ;)

ok, thanks, this is exactly what I want. I'll PW protect it. It's just for me so I don't screw up the live site and I can test out new stuff before pushing live.

Sorry for being potentially dense, but having looked at the license, it mentions that upon first install, the software sends info to you (IP details) Does this lock up any further "live" install or not? (as the license also says that it periodically checks these details, and the IP would certainly not be the same)

ETA: May as well ask my other question here - We haven't yet decided on the final URL we will be using. Can I enter our main one now in the license section, download th software, set up a test install, then go back and edit the url to the one we decide on later when we go about setting up what will be the live site?

Our software sends where it is installed so reinstall is fine.

Note you can only have one internet accessible install on one domain per the license. Installing a test copy is fine as long as its not a production environment as stated.

You can change your url and the software can move with you.

Brilliant, thanks for your reply Chuck S. Just to make absolutely sure I don't void my license, what you are saying is that I can set up a test install on www.urltest.com (which is not publicly available), and also www.liveurl.com (which is publicly available) and this won't affect this checking system that is in place?


Hopefully you won't be receiving a grovelling email from me after I manage to accidentally get myself locked out for a license violation! :D

As long as it is not a production environment when our legal team checks these things you will not be flagged.

Thank you very much for your help! :) Just one last question - could you confirm your definition of "production environment " for me please? I promise that's my last question ;) (it's a very large scale commercial setup and I don't want to be responsible for getting my company in trouble!)

Production environment meaning I go to

http://urltest.com and I can access the content it is production.

A testing environment consists of something password protected or non web accessible.

OK, that makes perfect sense. I really appreciate you clearing that up for me and being so patient.