Flow in the DTAP setup
Items flow in two directions in the DTAP setup. For one direction, use Content Porter; for the other, use database migration.
In a typical DTAP setup, there are two main flows of items through the architecture:
- Software and Templates, Schemas and other items that are not content
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These types of items are:
- Developed in the Development instance
- Migrated from the Development instance to the Testing instance (using Content Porter)
- Tested in the Testing instance
- Migrated from the Testing instance to the Acceptance instance (using Content Porter)
- Accepted in the Acceptance instance
- Migrated from the Acceptance instance to the Production instance (using Content Porter)
All migration is done using the Content Porter desktop client.
- Content (Components, Pages, Structure Groups and so on)
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From time to time, you may want to provide your Development instance or Testing instance with fresh production data, as created by authors in the Acceptance instance. The easiest and fastest way to do so is by migrating the entire Production Content Manager database to Development or to Testing, provided that the following is true:
- The Development instance only contains items that are already rolled out to Production.
- The Acceptance instance only contains content that has already been rolled out to Production.
For these migrations, a database migration of the Content Manager database is the best approach. (An export and import of the Topology Manager definition of the Content Delivery information is also required.)