What is the process for getting dev and test environments to match the production configuration and how do we keep them in sync

[Neil Santucci]

We use cloning to update our dev and test environments from production but that doesn't seem to apply to everything. We have, for example, plugins that link to Tenable but we've been told by the company that helped us with the install that these have to be configured separately in each environment. Is there a standard process for ensuring that the dev and test configurations match production and/or can anyone offer guidance as to how they go about this?

thanks
Neil

[Sulabh Garg]

Hi Neil,

Cloning is the best way to sync the Dev and test environment with production environment.

Plugins present on production will be copied on Dev and Test, However the reverse is not true, If you have plugins on Dev and test but not on production then it will not be retained or preserved on Dev and test after clone.

Further you can explore 'Excludes' and 'Preservers' under cloning, It will help you in build the configurations to exclude certain table data after clone or preservers to protect data on the target instance from being overwritten.

Hope it helps!!.

Please Mark ✅ Correct/helpful, if applicable, Thanks!! 

Regards

Sulabh Garg

[Neil Santucci]

Hi Sulabh.

thanks for your help. This is the opposite of what I was told by the company that supports us with ServiceNow so I'll go back to them and check this. 

One thought, if cloning does copy the plugins does it also copy the configuration? If it does, is there a better way than manually updating it in the dev and test environments, e.g. can this be scripted?

regards

Neil

[Sulabh Garg · Accepted solution]

Hi Neil,

Yes, configurations will also copy along with plugins.

As I explained in my previous comment, you can opt for Excludes and Preservers to exclude certain configurations not to be copied from production to target instance.

Also, you can write Post clone cleanup scripts 

to run on the target instance after the cloning process finishes.

Please Mark ✅ Correct/helpful, if applicable, Thanks!! 
Regards
Sulabh Garg

[Sulabh Garg]

@Neil Santucci - Hi Neil, Hope my response helped you, Do you have any follow up question? If not can you please mark the relevant response as correct to close this thread.

Thanks