Trying to make a test site

[Dragon41673]

I need some help as I cannot figure this out. A while back, jgress- helped me to copy my Joomla 2.5.57 from a live environment in to a test environment so I could upgrade to Joomla 3.3.6. She was VERY helpful & wonderful to work with! Once she helped me figure out all the issues, I killed off my old live site and moved the test site and made it live.

Now that it's been moved live, I was trying to re-setup a test environment so I could update the site with new a new template & clean a few things up, but I cannot get it to work correctly.

All files from the live site have been uploaded to the test site. I've changed the configuration.php file to reflect a new database, new password for that database, and adjusted the paths for the temp & log folders. When I log in to the back end of the test site, it shows I'm on the test site, but when I make an article to make sure I'm on the test site...it shows up on both sites. Also...I noticed that while it shows I'm on the test site, after several clicks, and especially when hitting a CANCEL button...it throws me to my current live site. The link at the top right of the joomla admin screen also does the same. I am on the test site, but when I click the site link...it throws me to the live site.

So...obvious question, what should I do to fix this?

[ribo]

check if you have any code with your live site in your .htaccess or in your configuration.php any link with your live site or maybe some plugin in your joomla which can do this redirect

[sitesrus]

It sounds like you database is still connecting to your live server. Joomla runs off the database and stores a lot of information there, you can have as many sites as you want but if the database connection details points to the same database they will all use it.

So on your test site go into your administration area and system settings and update the database connection details. If you have a test database point it to that (make sure host, user, password, database name are all correct) or if you have to make a new test database you can do that to.

As for the link it could just be using another setting in your joomla config which is a hard coded live url which is why it points there on your test site (because it was copied over).

[Dragon41673]

EDIT - never mind, panic post...adding more text shortly.

[Dragon41673]

Ok, so I changed it on the TEST side, and it changed the settings on my live site as well. Something is still connected...but I just don't know where.

[sitesrus]

The database settings are stored in the joomla configuration file "configuration.php", if you do in fact have two seperate distinct sites it's not likely they share that same file. However a lot of other things are stored in the database and what I said above would hold true for that.

Confirm you have two seperate sites, confirm each site has the correct configuration.php database settings, and confirm these are in fact two seperate databases one for test and one for live. Verify the url you are using.

You can visually inspect configuration.php on the file system to see if it has the correct values in the file itself.

[Dragon41673]

The database settings are stored in the joomla configuration file "configuration.php", if you do in fact have two seperate distinct sites it's not likely they share that same file. However a lot of other things are stored in the database and what I said above would hold true for that.

Confirm you have two seperate sites, confirm each site has the correct configuration.php database settings, and confirm these are in fact two seperate databases one for test and one for live. Verify the url you are using.

You can visually inspect configuration.php on the file system to see if it has the correct values in the file itself.

I did, if you want, I'm more than willing to post both configuration.php files up so you can see the differences...but obviously without the password being in it and I'll edit out some of the database name...but they are, as far as I can tell...2 totally different config files.

[sitesrus]

What are the url's for both sites? Is the test one just nested in the root folder of the production one?

With two distinct sites the only issue you'd have is where urls are hard coded and you're using links, or relying on database information that was copied from the other or is literally using the other because of config file database settings...

Two distinct sites wouldn't be sharing anything.

So the host and all the information is the same for the database? And your database names different like jkwd_joomla and jkwd_joomla_test for example?

Ya don't post sensitive information if you post something, but post whatever you feel comfortable with and explain the file system structure, urls used to access sites, and how your config files are setup.

[Dragon41673]

Can you tell I'm a newbie? LOL

Live site is www.ariesgamesandminis.com
Test site is test.ariesgamesandminis.com, which is a folder under the root of the main site.

This worked last time when I was doing my upgrade...so that's why I don't understand why it's not working this time.

Database's are both differently named, and have different passwords just to be safe.

[sitesrus]

Put a test.html in both sites with different content and make sure the right one loads when accessing.

Your sub domain could just be pointing to the wrong location ie both production site.

[Dragon41673]

Ok, I have a previous "welcome.html" from when the site was being worked on...so...

I edited it and dropped a "test.html" in to the test site, and the old "welcome.html" in to the live site.

Both have the same text & image in them...except I put "TEST TEST TEST" as a part of the top line of the "test.html"

I can reach the "Welcome" one on my live site...and I cannot reach the "Test" one on my test.

I tried it in reverse just for the heck of it...

I cannot reach the "Test" one on my live site...but I CAN reach the "Welcome" one on my test site and it is the UNEDITED one from my live site that is showing.

I'm no genius (enter sarcasm because I'm very new at this)...but would this mean that the sub-domain I'm using for my test site is not pointing correctly?

[sitesrus]

You kind of lost me but I don't think your sub domain is working. If it's under your document root just use the main url with a / and the name of the directory and it'll work for your test site.

Everything you describe sounds like your either sharing a db or your just accessing one site and not both.

[Dragon41673]

Ok, to be on the safe side...I've deleted all the files on the sub-domain. Then I went in to my host back-end (unfortunately it's GoDaddy...will be switching to Siteground hopefully early 2015), and I removed the sub-domain & deleted the database I specifically setup for that sub-domain.

I waited for everything to complete, created a new & differently named sub-domain, a new & differently named database, and used a backup from my live site to "restore" to the new database for my test site.

I'm currently transferring files over now...so once done I'll edit the configuration.php file and see what happens & post back in here the results.

[Dragon41673]

Ok...new test site is up & running. I did all the same steps as before...and it's working properly.

I'm fairly sure it's separate from the live site, but I will test further before making my changes. Even the link for the site on the top right corner also points to the test site, and doing the same things that caused the issue as described above are not happening now. This leads me to believe that something simply went wrong with the transfer, or the database...but all is good for now.

Thank you for trying to help, just seems like it was a bad transfer originally.