{"id":79581,"date":"2022-05-03T03:44:14","date_gmt":"2022-05-03T10:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oroinc.com\/b2b-ecommerce\/?p=79581"},"modified":"2023-03-21T02:08:53","modified_gmt":"2023-03-21T09:08:53","slug":"testing-and-staging-environments-in-ecommerce-implementation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oroinc.com\/b2b-ecommerce\/blog\/testing-and-staging-environments-in-ecommerce-implementation\/","title":{"rendered":"Staging vs Test Environment During eCommerce Implementation: What’s the Difference? | OroCommerce"},"content":{"rendered":"

Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) involves multiple activities, such as planning, analysis, design and development, different types of testing, deployment, and maintenance. These activities usually happen in different software environments, which could be classified as development, testing, staging, and production environments<\/strong>. Confusion sometimes arises when differentiating between testing and staging environments. Both are used for testing but at different times during the project. This article aims to clarify the testing vs staging environment puzzlement for business people and those who are new to the subject.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Testing<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Even though development and testing typically happen simultaneously, you will eventually need to freeze your work and deliver the results to the customer or roll out your new version of the application. This process is called <\/span>deployment <\/b>and it usually happens in frequent intervals so that your delivered product becomes <\/span>MVP-grade<\/span><\/a> (minimum viable product) as soon as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, before you can deploy your code from your <\/span>development environment<\/b> into the customer\u2019s <\/span>production environment<\/b>, there are a few more things for you to do. The first one is <\/span>testing<\/b>. To ensure the testing is properly set up, there\u2019s a need for a separate <\/span>testing environment<\/b>. It is specifically configured to allow QA specialists to effectively execute their tests and check the system components in different use case scenarios.<\/span><\/p>\n

The second activity you usually need to do before placing your code to production is the <\/span>user-acceptance testing<\/b>. This is when you check the entire system in the exact way it is going to be used in production, including live data volumes and types of data as well as user behavior. This type of testing requires a <\/span>staging environment<\/b>, which is identical to your production environment except that it\u2019s not publicly accessible to end users. <\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s consider the main differences between these environments and why you may need them all during eCommerce implementation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Development Environment vs Testing Environment<\/span><\/h2>\n

A <\/span>development environment<\/b> is configured to enable developers to write code quickly, verify it by creating basic tests (<\/span>unit tests<\/span><\/i>), and be productive. This environment is much smaller than what it takes to run an entire application in real-life implementation. It also features developer-specific tools that may at times hinder rigorous QA validation. And most importantly, the development environment is constantly changing – with new functionality being added all the time – which makes it difficult for QA engineers to run time-consuming tests, e.g. regression or integration tests, without disrupting the development process. <\/span><\/p>\n

A <\/span>testing environment<\/b> is where QA engineers can use a variety of testing tools to run all their different tests over the application code taken from the development environment. While developers check their code for simple bugs before passing it for quality assurance, QA engineers execute more complex and time-consuming types of tests to check the compatibility of the new and old code, the correct integration of different modules, the system\u2019s performance, etc. Running such tests on the development environment would lead to a huge waste of the developers\u2019 time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Testing Environment vs Staging Environment<\/span><\/h2>\n

Even though testing is typically performed alongside development, the need for user-acceptance testing on a <\/span>staging environment<\/b> is of paramount importance. A staging environment is an identical replica of the customer\u2019s production environment, which also typically contains real production data that\u2019s been sanitized for safety purposes. It is hosted in the same way as the production servers and involves an identical setup and update operations. Therefore, testing on a staging environment offers the most reliable way to check code quality and ensure the production servers are successful.<\/span><\/p>\n

A <\/span>testing environment<\/b> – even though critical for ongoing code quality assurance – can hardly achieve the same real-life degree of the customer\u2019s system emulation. That\u2019s why it is a common best practice to have the application code fully tested on the staging environment before moving it to production. It is considered a must for enterprise applications.<\/span><\/p>\n

Testing and Staging Environments in OroCommerce<\/span><\/h2>\n

Not all OroCommerce Enterprise Edition licenses come with a staging and testing environment so be sure to ask your Oro Representative if this is a requirement. However, customers can always add development and testing environments to their OroCloud environment for an additional cost. The OroCommerce staging and testing environments feature advanced monitoring, backups, redundancy, and other DevOps capabilities necessary to ensure rigorous UAT testing for a custom-tailored OroCommerce implementation. <\/span><\/p>\n

To learn more about our delivery model or licensing plans, please <\/span>contact us<\/span><\/a> and we\u2019ll get back to you shortly. You can also sign up for free access to <\/span>OroCommerce demo<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) involves multiple activities, such as planning, analysis, design and development, different types of testing, deployment, and maintenance. These activities usually happen in different software environments, which could be classified as development, testing, staging, and production environments. Confusion sometimes arises when differentiating between testing and staging environments. Both are used for testing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38577,"featured_media":106790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[210],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-79581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-b2b-ecommerce"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nStaging vs Test Environment During eCommerce Implementation: What's the Difference? | OroCommerce<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is the difference between QA and staging environment? 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