Creating a Test Site on Ubuntu

There are a number of ways to create a test site.

Steps for a Standard Ubuntu/Apache2 Server

Get the Code to Your Server

• Log into your site using SSH with root or an account with sudo account
• cd /var/www
• wget http://ftp.drupal.org/files/projects/cm_starterkit_moderate-7.x-1.12-core.tar.gz (use the link to most recent version of the kit http://drupal.org/project/cm_starterkit_moderate)
• tar -xvf cm_starterkit_moderate-7.x-1.12-core.tar.gz
• mv cm_starterkit_moderate-7.x-1.12 [youdecide].[yourdomain].org

Create a Database

• $ mysql -u ''adminusername'' -p
• mysql> CREATE DATABASE ''databasename'';
• mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON ''databasename''.* TO "''username''"@"''localhost''" IDENTIFIED BY "''password''";
• mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
• mysql> EXIT

Tell Apache Where to Send Requests for [youdecide].[yourdomain].org with a VHost

• cd /etc/apache2/sites-available
• sudo nano [youdecide].[yourdomain].org

• <VirtualHost *:80>
          ServerName [youdecide].[yourdomain].org
          ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
  
          DocumentRoot /var/www/[youdecide].[yourdomain].org
          AccessFileName .htaccess
          <Directory /var/www/[youdecide].[yourdomain].org>
                  Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
                  AllowOverride All
                  Order allow,deny
                  allow from all
          </Directory>
  
  </VirtualHost>

• Save the file using ctrl-X
• Tell Apache2 to enable the new site using the new VHost file sudo a2ensite [youdecide].[yourdomain].org
• The server should tell you Run '/etc/init.d/apache2 reload' to activate new configuration!
• sudo service apache2 restart (service is easier to remember than init.d)

The last step requires you add a ANAME or CNAME record to your DNS provider. These steps vary based on where your domain is registered.

Steps to Clone or Copy a Live site to a Dev site in Ubuntu/Apache/MySQL

Go to the settings for the live site and make note of which databases are being used
/var/www/sitelive/sites/default/settings.php

If you are using CiviCRM you would need to take note of both the current live CiviCRM and Drupal databases

sitelive_drupal1
sitelive_civicrm1

In phpMyAdmin or your preferred method create two new dev databases

If you have sitedev_drupal1 then create sitedev_drupal2
If you have sitedev_civicrm1 then create sitedev_civicrm2

Backup your live databases

mysqldump -u username -p sitelive_drupal1 > sitelive_drupal1_yyyymmdd.sql
mysqldump -u username -p sitelive_civicrm1 > sitelive_civicrm1_yyyymmdd.sql

Then upload the data from the backed up live databases to the new dev databases

mysql -u username -p sitedev_drupal2 < sitelive_drupal1_yyyymmdd.sql
mysql -u username -p sitedev_civicrm2 < sitelive_civicrm1_yyyymmdd.sql

Once the new dev databases are created and populated with data, then copy the live directory to a new dev directory

Let's assume your directories are called sitelive and sitedev

Make a copy of sitelive directory
sudo cp -R -p sitelive sitelive_copy

Backup sitedev directory
sudo mv sitedev sitedev_backup

Create a new sitedev directory by changing the name of the sitelive
sudo mv sitelive_copy sited

Once the new databases are created and the a new sitedev directory is created, then change drupal and civicrm settings in settings.php and civicrm.settings.php

/var/www/sitedev/sites/default/

All the references to databases in the settings.php and civicrm.settings.php will need to point to the new dev databases.

Now you should be able to load http://sitedev.org

If you are using CiviCRM, then go to CivicRM > Administer > System Settings > CMS Database Integration

Copy the CiviCRM settings to the settings.php file in the sitedev directory