Title: Syncing/mirroring/replicating local dev version to live server
Last modified: September 16, 2016

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# Syncing/mirroring/replicating local dev version to live server

 *  [lmnop](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lmnop/)
 * (@lmnop)
 * [9 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/syncingmirroringreplicating-local-dev-version-to-live-server/)
 * This seems to be something that many people would like to do but it all seems
   very difficult to set up in an efficient manner.*
 * * Note that this is for a wordpress install that does not do any dynamic updating
   of the live system – no blog comments etc -that would make things very different)
 * I’ve got “WP Multi Network” working on my WP Dev’s iMac (see [https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cannot-get-it-to-work-on-localhost/](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cannot-get-it-to-work-on-localhost/)
   for some info on that).
 * I’ve set up so she can double click on a shell script (batch file) on the desktop,
   that quickly rsync’s the wordpress directory via SSH so the production server
   has the same directories and files as the dev machine (efficient as rsync just
   copies the changes, not the entire file system)
 * The only thing left to do now is replicating the mySQL database up to the production
   server.
 * This would be fairly simple (I think) as mySQL supports replication, where the
   slave (production server) reads the binary log file stored on the master (dev
   server) and simply plays back the changes made to the dev database, command by
   command, and does the same to the live DB.
 * The catch is, the domain names in the wordpress DB files on the dev machine are
   different than what they need to be for the production machine. I’ve never looked
   at the structure of the wordpress DB’s so have no idea how difficult this will
   be to change on the fly.
 * Ideally, a “Go live” wordpress plugin that had mappings for “dev system domain
   name” to “production system domain name”, that tracked the last time the DB was
   modified and made all the required changes to the live DB file, and rsync’d the
   directory structures afterward would be the way to go.
 * Is this do-able, or am I just banging my head against a brick wall?

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

 *  [RossMitchell](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rossmitchell/)
 * (@rossmitchell)
 * [9 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/syncingmirroringreplicating-local-dev-version-to-live-server/#post-8193433)
 * I doubt that an on the fly translation of database snapshots is viable, the domain
   name is inserted in lots of entries, some of which are serialised (encoded with
   field length).
 * What I think would be possible is to have both the live and development websites
   using the same domain name. You could selectively comment / un-comment an entry
   in the “hosts” file to switch the browser on the localhost machine between accessing
   the live and local website.
    OR instead access the live website using he hosting
   domain name for accessing FTP and phpmyadmin and have the hosts file map the 
   domain name to localhost always. Of course you would also check the live site
   from a different computer.
 * So I think you should be using the “moving wordpress” procedures, or use the 
   plugin DUPLICATOR and configure your localhost site to use the same domain name
   as live. This way the WordPress files and database will barely know when they
   are moved. The only difference will be things like that the localhost instance
   cannot send emails by SMTP and similar.
 *  Thread Starter [lmnop](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lmnop/)
 * (@lmnop)
 * [9 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/syncingmirroringreplicating-local-dev-version-to-live-server/#post-8196756)
 * Right. Thanks for that. I’m a bit aghast that WordPress spreads the site’s hostname
   all through the DB. That should be located in one place only, then referenced
   from elsewhere!
 * The catch with updating the localhost file is OSX pretty much ignores it, which
   you have to overcome by running dnsmasq.
 * But from what you’ve said, running a duplicate host structure sounds like it’s
   the only way to do this that doesn’t involve copious quantities of arseing around,
   thanks to the DB structure.
 * My dev will have to remember that her machine is always referencing her local
   version of wordpress and she’ll have to get on a different machine to access 
   the production system.
 * Thanks for your input.
 * I’ll set it up so that a script does a SQL replication and then rsync’s the file
   system changes.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

The topic ‘Syncing/mirroring/replicating local dev version to live server’ is closed
to new replies.

 * In: [Localhost Installs](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/localhost-installs/)
 * 2 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [lmnop](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lmnop/)
 * Last activity: [9 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/syncingmirroringreplicating-local-dev-version-to-live-server/#post-8196756)
 * Status: not resolved

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