A staging server provides a separate environment where you can test changes, configurations, upgrades, or new functionality without affecting your live production site.
Over time, the information on your staging server may become different from your production environment. Synchronizing your staging server refreshes the staging environment by copying the current data from your production server to staging.
What Happens During a Synchronization?
When you synchronize your staging server, the existing data on the staging server is replaced with a current copy of the data from your production server.
This means that changes made only on the staging server may be lost during synchronization. Before starting a synchronization, make sure there is nothing on the staging server that you need to preserve.
The synchronization process does not make changes to your production server. Production is the source of the data being copied to staging.
Step-by-step Guide
You can initiate a synchronization directly from your staging server. You no longer need to submit a Help Desk request to have the staging environment refreshed.
-
Sign in to your staging server.
-
Navigate to Site administration > Reports > System Health > Update.
-
Click on the “Synchronize Now” button on the page.
Once initiated, the synchronization will begin copying the current production data to your staging environment immediately. This action cannot be cancelled.
Important Notes
-
Synchronization is one-way: from production to staging. It does not copy changes made on staging back to production.
-
Because the staging environment is replaced with production data during synchronization, any testing data, configuration changes, or other modifications made exclusively on staging may be overwritten.
-
Once initiated, you cannot cancel the synchronization.