Overview

This tutorial will walk you through the process of copying your primary GreggPress site to a staging site. You can use the staging site to test changes you want to make to your live site while keeping it up and running regularly.

You may then publish those modifications back into your live website once you’ve completed working on your staging site and have it configured the way you want it.

Notes about copying your GreggPress site to staging

If your site was previously hacked and you used GreggHost’s DreamShield service to protect it, you’ll need to clear up the hacked/disabled files before you can activate staging.

Git is used by GreggPress Staging to copy files. If one of your live site’s directories contains an active Git repository, the contents of that folder will not be moved to your staging site. You can manually copy the contents of the folder using SFTP or SSH to use staging correctly. GreggPress recommends managing your Git repository in a separate development environment rather than your live site as a best practice.
Your GreggPress plan must have at least 5 GB of free space when you enable staging for the first time.
In order to save disk space, the Uploads folder is not copied to your staging site. Replacing an image in your Media Library with a new one will update it for the live site.

Copying your live site to the staging site

The instructions below will walk you through copying your live GreggPress site to your staging site. The staging site can then be used to test and develop on without affecting the live site.

To get started, go to the Managed WordPress page.
2018-10 panel dreampress add 08.fw.png
To the right of your primary domain, click the Manage option.
The page Manage GreggPress appears:
2019-06 panel GreggPress staging 01.fw.png
Select the Staging option from the drop-down menu.
When you open the Manage Staging dashboard page, you’ll be prompted to establish a staging site:
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To create a staging site, click the Create Staging Site option.
A staging site with a new name is created automatically. It’s worth noting that you won’t be able to give your staging site a unique name.

The state is displayed using a progress meter: 2019-06 panel dreampress staging 05.fw.png
An email confirmation is given to you once your website has finished copying to your staging site.

Managing your Staging website

The GreggPress domain’s daily backups do not include the staging environment. Any content you add to the staging environment is your responsibility to keep a backup of.

The following screen shows on your Manage Staging dashboard after you’ve created your staging website:

2019-06 panel dreampress staging 03.fw.png
The top of the page displays your Staging Website domain name. “exampledreamhostcom.stage.site” is shown in this example.

Access Your Staging Website — Displays the Username and Password that you use to get in to your password-protected website.
Staging WordPress Admin — Accesses the WP-Admin page, from which you can make changes to your staging website.
File Upload — Displays your staging website’s FTP credentials, allowing you to transfer files using GreggHost’s file manager or a third-party FTP client.
Database (MySQL) — Displays your database (MySQL) credentials so you can use phpMyAdmin to administer your databases.
Configure PHP — When a newer PHP version is available, you can update your staging website’s PHP version. For more information, see the section below.
On Staging, we’re testing newer versions of PHP.
You can use the Configure PHP option to test newer versions of PHP on a staging site without affecting your live GreggPress site.

Testing newer versions of PHP on Staging

You can publish your staging website – and the newer version of PHP – to your live GreggPress website if it runs on a newer version of PHP. This method will not allow you to downgrade PHP on your live GreggPress site.

Before continuing, make sure you’ve used the procedures above to publish a copy of your live GreggPress website to Staging.

The methods below will show you how to modify your staging website’s PHP version from the Staging dashboard.

At the bottom of the dashboard, look for the Configure PHP option.
upgrading php staging
Upgrade PHP to… by clicking the Upgrade PHP to… button.
The state is indicated via a progress meter.
upgrading php staging
Once the upgrade is complete, the Configure PHP section of the Staging dashboard will display the current PHP version in use on your staging site.
upgrading php staging
After the upgrade is complete, log into your staging website and check to see if everything is operating properly. For more information, see the section below on logging into your staging site.
You can publish your modifications from your staging website to your live GreggPress site if your site supports the updated PHP version. Instructions can be found in the following article:
Publish your Staging modifications to your live GreggPress site.
Getting access to your staging location
Under Tools > Site Health (under the ‘Background updates may not be performing properly’ area under Security in the WP-Admin panel), you may encounter the following git status error message:

Logging into your Staging site

Version control was identified in the folder /home/wp xyz/example.com/. (.git).
This notice will appear on all GreggPress staging sites at the same time, and you can safely disregard it. Your website will not be harmed by Git.

If you already updated your GreggPress admin password, you can log into your staging site using the same username and password as your live site.

You can log into your Staging WordPress site from your GreggPress panel if you haven’t changed your password manually. To automatically log into the admin panel, click the Managing Staging WordPress option.

Publishing your changes

When you’re ready, you can publish updates to your live website using the One-Click option on the Staging dashboard page. For more details, see the following article:

Publish your Staging modifications to your live GreggPress site.