This is actully quite bugbear for most CMS based developers ...  currently there is no real SEAMLESS way of keeping a development and live site fully in sync with each other.

Currently we use a 3rd party database sync tool on some sites ... but this can be rather problematic since the question always is - which site is RIGHT - which comes down to managing contention records at the table level.

Do a seach on SQL DIFF tools if you want to explore this area.

This is also confused by the side need to also keep the file base in sync as well.

What it really comes down to is WHAT you need to keep in sync.

Westa

 

I also agree that it is somewhat complicated to keep it in sync, however it can be very easy as long as you follow strict versioning and packaging of your modules. 

If you build your modules version by version you can create a module installation package for each version including the needed SQL Scripts that will then ensure that everything is correct on production when it is deployed.  Since you are going to a production environment your changes should not be pushed until you have an actual "release" so this shouldn't be a big deviation on the standard process.

The time that this doesn't work is if you are making modifications to the DNN core....

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-Mitchel Sellers
Microsoft MVP, ASPInsider, DNN MVP
CEO/Director of Development - IowaComputerGurus Inc.


Visit mitchelsellers.com for my mostly DNN Blog and support forum.

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