I manage a website for a business and we are in the process of looking for a new host. As part of this our current host gives us a staging and production environment. The website is currently being hosted on a Win2k server box. (don’t get me started on why the host is running the site on old outdated servers. it’s something about that’s the package we bought years ago…)
The hosting company provides us staging and production environments. Since this is a win2k server, they use Microsoft’s site server to handle the movement of the site from staging to production. I have a web page I log into and press a button to facilitate the movement. The page gives me the status of replication.
The potential new hosts have told me that my site is too sophisticated for sharred hosting and that I need to look at their VPS offerings. This is due to the fact that I require a site catelog to be generated for the site’s search feature. I want to keep the search feature and am looking to go the VPS route. This means that I will be responsible for everything that happens on the server.
Does anyone know of a piece of server software that will allow me to move a site into production from a staging environment. The 2 sites will run on the same box configured as different sites under IIS. I would like to have a web based interface like MS’s Site server such that I can publish the site regardless of whether I’m in the office or at home. I’m trying to avoid remotely connecting to the server and using some folder syncronization software.
Wyatt (wwb_99) is the local Microsoft Shill (expert - that had been his avatar for years) so I’d recommend either waiting for him to magically appear or PM him. He is VERY knowledgeable about all things M$.
Personally, I won’t use M$ online and insist of a Linux server with Apache and PHP. To that end, I do develop on a WinDoze box (7 Pro/64) but have installed the Apache and PHP and MySQL daemons to support development and testing. Okay, not in your wheelhouse but it just doesn’t make sense to me to use Win2K so please take that as a suggestion. It may take a little longer to port to LAMP but you’ll like it AND it’s easily transferable from cPanel host to cPanel host.
I’m switching hosting companies to get away from win 2k and the old pentuim III box that my site is running on ( theonly explanation for old outdated hardware is that that was the package we purchased years ago). As part of this I will move to the latest server OS, I believe it is win 2012 server. I like IIS and have been using it since early last decade. I’m trying to find a program that works as site server did back in the old days so that I can replicate from staging to production without directly interacting with the server box.
I will look for Wyatt (wwb_99) and send him a PM. I’ll let him know that you recommended him.
Clients (and bosses) have their own ideas of what is required so there is no need to apologize for them. It’s only the explanation which will help get you the right information.
I’ve had many PM’s for assistance and Wyatt is (had been?) an Advisor here so he should be used to it and not mind an occasional PM. He’s a really good guy, though, so I’m sure he won’t mind or I wouldn’t have recommended him. Also, the M$ was his avatar and he identified himself as a Microsoft Shill so you know he also has a great sense of humor. What you don’t know is his background which is extensive with M$ systems.