Live Site & Test Site Information (Including How to Copy Live to Testing)

Did you know your BigSIS Database is actually TWO complete databases? One is a "Live" or "Real" database, and the other is a "Test" or "Sandbox" database. Read further to learn more about the differences between the two sites plus the benefits of having both.

Or jump ahead to learn how to copy your live data to your test site.

How do I get to the different sites?

Here are the URLs for your Live and Test Admin, as well as your Live and Test portal.

Why do I need a TEST database?

1. The Test database gives you a space to play around without fear of accidentally releasing something to parents, or corrupting your data inadvertently. Parents don't have access to a Test portal and therefore you can easily push data out fo portals for testing without fear of a parent every seeing your test work.
   
   
2. The Test database is independent of your Live database, meaning if you have your Live data backed up regularly, then you'll have backup records on your testing site in the event data is accidentally deleted or wrongly edited. For example, if someone deletes an address on the Live site accidentally and you want to retrieve that information, you can if it's on your testing site.

How do I get my LIVE data onto my TEST site?

Great question! Let's begin by emphasizing a very important concept. Though you can copy LIVE data to your TEST site, you can never copy TEST data to your LIVE site. It's a one-way street from LIVE to TEST and never the other way around. This is very important and will be repeatedly emphasized: never do any "real" work on your Test site (e.g. build a form) because it won't be of any use to you there. Instead, do all of your "real" work on your Live site then copy that work to your Test site so you can Test your work.

With that said, here is how to backup your LIVE site and copy that backup over to your TEST site. Note: You must have "Advanced" permission in BigSIS to complete this task.

Step One: Backing up Your Live Database

From the Dashboard of your LIVE database:

1. In the left menu, go to System > Settings > Client Settings.
   PRO TIP! You can click the Client Settings shortcut on your Dashboard too!
   
   
2. From the Client Settings page, click the DB Backup & Restore subtab.
3. Click the Backup Production Database button.
4. A dialogue box will display asking if you would like to backup your production database, click the OK button.
5. You'll see a message display with the date and time the production database (AKA Live database) was backed up. The Live database is now ready to be copied to the Test site.

Click to enlarge

Step Two: Copying Your Live Data to Your Test Site

From the Dashboard of your TEST database: 
Make sure you are on your TEST database to complete this step. See above for finding the URL to your test site above if needed.

1. In the left menu, go to System > Settings > Client Settings.
   PRO TIP! You can click the Client Settings shortcut on your Dashboard too!
   
   
2. From the Client Settings page, click the DB Backup & Restore subtab.
3. Click the Restore Testing Database button.
4. A dialogue box will display asking if you would like to restore the last Production database backup to the Testing database, click the OK button.
5. You'll see a message display with the date and time the testing database was restored to the most recent backup from the live site.
   Click to enlarge

Hooray! Your Testing site now mirrors your Live site!