How to Setup a WordPress Staging/dev Site

Time needed: 15 minutes

Included with our service is a sitecopy script, that allows you to very easily duplicate a website. The sitecopy script makes a full copy of all files for a website and sets up the connection to a new database. It’s a fast and easy solution!

1. Add a new site

   Start by adding an additional website with us. To add a new site in our admin panel, click the “ADD SITE” button. Then select a Site name and click the “Create new site” button. You’ll see a confirmation and receive an email with SSH/SFTP and database information for the new website.
   
   

2. Login using SSH/terminal

   Login by SSH to the new website. Change the directory to ~/public   and remove our default index page, like this:
   
   cd public
   rm index.php
   
   Now you need to make sure you have the user info for the website that you want to clone FROM. You need the SSH/SFTP username, password, and the server address to clone FROM. You also need the database name, username, and password to clone TO (this is sent to you by email when you set up the new website).

3. Run the sitecopy script

   Run our sitecopy software, like this:
   
   sitecopy -k -t wp user-to-clone-from@server-to-clone-from database-to-clone-to -e wp-content/uploads
   
   First, we set the -k flag. This means that after the first time we enter the SSH password for the site, we’re cloning from, we will not need to enter it again. Secondly, we define the type of website to copy with the -t flag followed by wp, which stands for WordPress. Then we set the user@server to clone FROM. Then we set the database to clone TO. Finally, we exclude copying the folder wp-content/uploads and all its subdirectories with the -e flag.
   
   Excluding the wp-content/uploads folder is not a must, but a recommendation. You can do this if you don’t want to store multiple copies of your uploaded files (primarily images). The new website will still work with the images since we’ll rewrite these through .htaccess  (in the final step of this guide).
   
   If you want to copy all folders/files, feel free to remove the “-e wp-content/uploads”. Just make sure you have enough storage space for this in your package.
   
   When you run the sitecopy software, you will need to enter the password for the user to clone FROM. You’ll also need to enter the user info for the new database. Other than that, the sitecopy software will manage the whole copying process and database setup for you.
   
   Example sitecopy: Now I am logged in to the site I want to copy another site TO. [email protected] is the site I am copying from, and wordpress9801 is the database of the site I am copying TO. When sitecopy asks for your database name and database user, hit enter because you have already specified that.
   
   

4. Update the URL

   Now you need to correct the address to the new website in the database. This is easily done with WP-CLI using wp search-replace command, like this:
   
   wp search-replace https://website-that-we-cloned-from https://website-that-we-cloned-to --all-tables
   
   The new website address can be found in our Control Panel if you select the website and click the “Domains” tab.
   
   Note: If you have a WordPress network installation (WordPress Multisite), you also need to update the address in the database tables wp_blogs and wp_site, and in the WordPress configuration file wp-config.php  (if it’s the main address).
   

5. Update .htaccess (optional)

   Note that this step only applies if you exclude the wp-content/uploads folder. If that is the case, we need to setup .htaccess  to rewrite the wp-content/uploads folder (for the images), like this:
   
   nano -w .htaccess
   
   Add the following line to use the uploads folder from the production site:
   RedirectMatch 301 /wp-content/uploads/(.*) https://website-that-we-cloned-from/wp-content/uploads/$1
   
   To close and save the .htaccess  file, click ctrl+x, select y (to save), and press the Enter key.
   
   Now you can visit the new website that you’ve set up, which will be an exact copy of your real/production website. If your WordPress site is a multisite, then follow the steps below.