Database changes between live and staging

Hey there!

The database will need to be merged, as just pushing the site to live will not also update your database (it depends on your deploy process, to be honest). You will likely want to leave the database on the live site as is, and just clone any changes you make to the database on staging to your live site.

Hopefully that helps! Have a great one!

Hi Andrew- thank you! I do have a follow up question. DreamPress’s migration basically just allows for “all folders” and “all databases,” so I can’t prevent it from sending over a database of old orders.

I’m looking at the Woocommerce documentation and I see a suggestion to export certain data (in relation to products), so would this work:
-In live, export all Orders and Refunds
-Push product updates naturally from Staging
-Import the Orders file?

Thanks!

Hi Andrew- thank you! I do have a follow up question. DreamPress’s migration basically just allows for “all folders” and “all databases,” so I can’t prevent it from sending over a database of old orders.

I’m looking at the Woocommerce documentation and I see a suggestion to export certain data (in relation to products), so would this work:
-In live, export all Orders and Refunds
-Push product updates naturally from Staging
-Import the Orders file?

Thanks!

Hey again!

Yes, that flow would work mostly.

One thing you have to consider is all the user data that might have been changed/created in the time since you pulled it from live to staging, as well as any posts/pages/anything else stored in the DB.

What, if any, changes in the staging database are you needing to bring to live, and is it possible to not import the database from staging to live and just make those changes manually? That is the option here with the least chance of irreplaceable data being lost.

Hi there,
Thanks for your message and apologies for the double-send!
Hmmm- so the overhaul has included the works: new theme, child theme, custom code, new pages, a few new products, new shipping zone and tax info. So, that means that everything is drastically different, but really the only thing that needs to be saved from the current live site is customer info. Unless, I’m misunderstanding where Woocommerce data is stored? I see that it is stored in the site’s database and not externally.

Yes, the customer data is stored in your user table, and the orders are in the posts/post meta tables.

Hi,
I am using “WP time capsule” to manage staging.

I am able to exclude individual databases from the restore process.

Could you advise which databases I should exclude so i don’t lose order information on the live site.

Probably don’t want to overwrite customer data either.

I would like to update products in the staging area then transfer over, I don’t have stock control so don’t want to exclude product data.

Anything else i need to consider?
Cheers