AC7 and proper dev/prod environments

[fbarletta]

I joined a new team and AbleCommerce is the cart we're using (yay!).

I am new to this platform and want to grasp as much as possible, as quick as possible.

Current the development process is wonky, but without going into too much details, I want to do the following:

I want my developers to have a copy of the environment in their own dev environments. Once they make changes, I want them to push their code into a repo (svn) and then merge working code into a shared dev environment for a quick and dirty review. Once a full code review is there, I'd migrate it again to a QA environment > process continues to staging (preprod) then into production.

Does AbleCommerce 7 support this type of solution. How many non-production licenses are standard or can we replicate the environments as long as its in testing? I just need 1 production environment in the end, but need to make this work properly.

Thanks for the help!

[jmestep]

You can re-use the license on domains for development by changing the App_Data/ablecommerce.config so that it has demoMode="true" before you install a test site for localhost. You will get all the features for the site, but the orders will come thru with DEMO,DEMO for names, addresses etc because the license isn't valid for local development, just the live and/or dev site url.

[AbleMods]

There are a few files you'll want to exclude from SVN commits in each working copy. When I do the initial repository load, I exclude them from the start so as to not create further confusion between developers during future updates/commits.

Individual team members get sent these files separately with reminder instructions to add them to their local Exclude list.

Specifically:
/App_Data/Encryption.config
/App_Data/Database.config (unless everyone involved can see the same SQL box)
/App_Data/CommerceBuilder.lic

Generally I make everyone use the same web.config file. If my team members can't all make the site work with a common web.config, something else is wrong The only time this is an exception is when a customization has coded a configuration setting of some sort into the web.config. But we tend to avoid this and store those in ac_StoreSettings whenever possible.

Able will handle your dev team environment exactly as you need. You just have to cover the bases on dev licenses and machine-specific configuration settings.

You'll find some annoyances with certain log and temp files created by Able as you develop in it.

Specifically /App_Data/Logs/app.log is always updated, so it's always in the commit list. I always ignore-on-commit this file after the initial load.

Also, /WebCharts/ will always have a bunch of temp files from the .Net 4.0 graph engine. Just Ignore-on-Commit the whole folder after your initial load.

That should keep your commits pretty clean going forward.

[fbarletta]

A few things I am going to throw out and hope they make sense - Keep in mind I am new to this project and learning as I go.

We're using .Net Framework 2.5 - Would love to upgrade this to 4.0 or 4.5 but not sure the right direction on getting this done.

I'd like to use subdomains, but not sure what files to change in order to get this to work properly (e.g. QA.Domain.com, Staging.Domain.com)
The goal is to set up a sophisticated, well tested system and make a new starting point.

Realistically, I want to take the current live site and spin up 5 new servers, install mssql and migrate a copy of the site to all environments as a starting point. I would take the current production codebase and submit to SVN and give everyone a copy in their own branch so we can start this new adventure together.

Another Q - Is it possible to use a subdomain to go to the live site as well (e.g. store.domain.com and candy.domain.com)?

Help and thoughts are appreciated!

[AbleMods]

We're using .Net Framework 2.5

Hopefully that's a typo. I've never heard of .Net 2.5.

Would love to upgrade this to 4.0 or 4.5 but not sure the right direction on getting this done.

As long as it's installed on the server, it's a simple process. Able includes alternate framework web.config files in the /Install/Frameworks/ folder. Just don't forget to change your app pool as well. I run everything in .Net 4.0 Integrated, Able is not compatible with .Net 4.5 at this time.

Another Q - Is it possible to use a subdomain to go to the live site as well (e.g. store.domain.com and candy.domain.com)?

Able offers a multi-domain license but I believe it's a separate cost. By default, Able licensing will only response to a single domain name.

I'm assuming you're spinning up 5 servers for 5 different developers right? It would probably be beneficial from a development standpoint to have all 5 developers working against a single common database. Coordinating schema changes will be a nightmare if everyone has their own separate db.

[deverill]

A word of caution, if you are going to use the DEMO licensing method make sure you and your developers are on the right page the first few times. I set this up once and had something off and when I went to the store it bounced me to the registered domain and when I went in and added a license I *then* found out I was on the live server because of the bounce.

It's a dumb mistake but I always watch the URL in the address bar on my browser the first few pages to make sure I'm where I think I am. One time doing that was more than enough!

Regards,
Jim