Environments

Environments are used to help facilitate the workflow for code, files, and databases.

Environments Workflow

The Common Framework is supported by a three environment workflow:

• Development (dev): The development environment is the first line of defense against bugs. Here, the ITS Web Team deploys code and configuration changes and tests any newly implemented features or bug fixes. Any issues found should be dealt with before re-deploying for further testing. This is an iterative process until the code is ready for the next level of testing.

• Staging (test): Once satisfied with code and configuration, and consider it fairly stable, it is then deployed to the stage/test environment for further testing. This is where Quality Assurance (QA) is performed. If the ITS Web Team makes a change, they may ask College web staff to test the changes on stage for their website. If you have access to the Pantheon dashboard for your website, the stage environment is synonymous with test environment.

• Production (live): Once the code has been thoroughly tested, it is then pushed to production where it is made “live” to the world. This is also where content creation and editing happens. If you have access to the Pantheon dashboard for your website, the prod environment is synonymous with live environment.

Code is always moved up the stack, starting in dev, then moving to stage, and then up to prod. Content is the opposite and should always be added in prod.

Keeping Environments in Sync

It is important to keep the dev, test, and live environments in sync so that testing on one environment is the same as testing on another. To do this, the District Web Team regularly copies the content created on live (databases and files) back down to dev and test. These environment refreshes are a necessary part of ongoing site maintenance that is managed by the District Web Team.