Why have separate Live and Test servers?

[Bullit]

hi there,

I'm trying to setup a web development environment for 4 developers at work.

I know I want a separate Live and Test server - but why?

1. so rogue code doesn't wipe out the live code
2. so the live database is not easily available to test (beta) code

any other reasons to have separate servers?
Someone is suggesting to put live and test on the same server in separate folders. This is penny pinching and I'm looking for solid argument against such a setup.

(I am working from this article - a good read in relation to how we should setup for dev work: WebDev: The Case for a Local Development Environment | Jangro.com)

Any feedback most appreciated.

[Brinson]

Depends how intensive your applications are.

If your going to be altering code in the OS or Dev Tools, then I'd reccomend either seperate machines or a virtual machine for your beta. If not, put them on separate folders in the server.

[funtikk]

How can you check is the web site is intensive or not?

[bla!!]

You generally do a load test. There are tools from Microsoft for this with IIS
Stress tools to test your Web server

A couple reasons I can think of (Microsoft specific):

1. You upload an update that locks up your IIS worker process
2. You need to add a web extension/module that may affect your production site.
3. You need to restart IIS to refresh system variables for an update to take effect
4. Security, if you have both on the same system and your test server gets breached, your whole server is open game
5. Performance. If you upload a large site during heaving usage of your production site, you will notice a speed impact

The list can go on, but basically it's bad practice to have them on the same server. But still the fact is that it is done quite often in small/med size businesses.

[Brinson]

If your site is only standard html/php/mysql or what have you, I wouldn't worry about separate servers...but if you are using something which runs code, processes, sever apps, ect, it may be worth it.

Alot of big sites now use things like plone which aren't just a set of files read by a default server app like apache, they are their own program which dynamically configures content. Changing your site may mean changing code int the environment of your server or operating system, so operating alternate sites for your two different ones is a good idea.