I have seen several time when the changes on a custom software works perfect while we run on a development box but when it comes to the deployment stage, it does not behave the way it should be. The better solution to overcome such issues is that we should deploy the changes to the similar environment as of the live one. If the application is hosted on a web server and utilizes the database, we should have the same configuration and same database (ideally with the same data and files) on the QA box.
So, start with configuring the web application and copy the application files from the live box to the QA box. Then restore the live database on to the QA box. Verify if the current application is running fine the same way it is running on the live site.
Now, start deploying the database changes and verify if the changes are OK. After that, deploy the web application changes to the QA box and verify if the changes are deployed successfully or not.
Now, test every change on the deployed version and fix if there are some issues. Once every fix is in place, and the new changes are working fine, deploy that on UAT box. Now, let user play with the changes untill they are satisfied with the new release. Once they are happy, deploy that release straight onto the live box. That's it!
I hope this process will minimize the deployment chaos unless you bypass the QA and UAT phase.
nice one
ReplyDeletebut what if we don't have QA Box shall we do it through QA Cartons? :)
:)
ReplyDeleteNo, you must arrange QA Box. Carton is not enough for this phase. :)