Hello motorsportprospects!
Thanks for reaching us today! A very good question indeed!
As with every new plugin, the best and safest option is always to install it on staging first and then migrate it to production. This model has proved to be efficient in many cases and for most of users.
When it comes to WP 2FA now, there are some important considerations to prevent the plugin from malfunctioning after this process.
1. Our plugin stores its own keys inside the wp-config.php file, which are used in the encryption process (This is an example of what you will be added there once the plugin is installed/activated: define( ‘WP2FA_ENCRYPT_KEY’, ‘8YB+38vAQvAfdMG73zLRCA==’ ); )
However, if the plugin is active during migration, it might regenerate these keys, rendering existing 2FA configurations invalid. (this depends on the type of migration and can vary from one migration method to another)
However, to avoid and prevent this:
- Deactivate the plugin during migration and reactivate it afterward.
- Preserve the WP2FA_ENCRYPT_KEY value found in wp-config.php file (see above) before migration (just in case). If it changes by any means after migration, replace the new key with the old one.
- Ensure the WP_USERMETA table, containing wp_2fa_ database entries, remains unchanged.
- Ensure that inside WP_OPTIONS table, wp_2fa_ prefixed entries remain unchanged (these are responsible for the plugin settings and configuration)
By following these steps, you can maintain 2FA encryption integrity post-migration or cloning without any issues.
Let me know how it goes and/or if you have any other questions!
