If you have a large and complex website with several different people adding and managing different components and data sets to the website, you will need to have a streamlined workflow in order to efficiently and effectively manage your website from the design stage to the live stage. A complex website could involve having many different web servers in different server locations, each having a different function and hosted by different hosting services.
Below are the different kinds of servers that you would find in a complex website and how they can be utilized.
Production Web Servers
This is the most common type of web server utilized by web designers. A production server simply hosts web pages and content or data that is ready for live broadcasting or production through the internet. The web pages and data are usually uploaded to the live production server through FTP from a local hard disk.
Production servers are suitable servers for small websites that don’t have much complexity and don’t need to have elaborate security features.
- The workflow for production servers is as follows;
- The web designer creates the website and tests it locally on his/her computer.
- The website is then uploaded to a password protected or hidden directory on the production server where it is tested again.
- Once confirmed as required, the website is taken live by moving it from the hidden folders to the live areas on the server.
Testing Servers
Testing servers are very useful for content or websites that are dynamic in terms of coding, content or CGIs. These servers are usually set up on a local machine so that the content can be tested thoroughly before being approved for live use.
With a testing server, you can simulate how the programs, scripts, codes and databases on a web page will behave and interact with each other in order to determine whether they are ready for production.
Websites on testing serves are usually behind company firewalls, or on local machines, and are therefore not accessible to anyone who is not intended to view them. The testing servers also have tools for easy website and data management such as versioning and backup features to allow for easy manipulation of the data and different changes made to the content on the server.
The workflow on these servers is as follows;
- The web designer creates the website and tests it locally on his/her computer.
- The designer and/or developer then adds code, scripts or dynamic content or elements such as Ajax, PHP or CGI elements for testing.
- Once the content and other elements behave as intended by the designer and developer, the website is approved and is uploaded for production.
- Development Servers
Development servers are often used by web designers and web developers to work on coding the backend of a website. This is often very useful for large or complex websites that need a lot of backend mechanics, for example, ecommerce websites and similar applications or portals.
Such websites or portals often have source code control or version control systems to allow access to several different members of a team. Whereas development servers often have a testing environment, they are not primarily used for testing code against specific parameters, but used mostly for actually making or creating new code or scripts.
Development servers are thus used mostly for creating independent, functional elements of the website before they can all be tested together on a testing server. When an organization has a development server, there are often different teams that use the same resource to create different elements. Teams include web developer teams and web designer teams.
The typical workflow of such servers is;
- The web designer designs while the web developer codes and creates scripts and elements of the website. Both teams do their work locally on the development server.
The design and all the coding elements are then merged on the testing server for testing.
Once the content and other elements behave as intended by the designer and developer, the website is approved and is uploaded for production.
Content Sever
If you have vast amounts of data or big data, you can usually have a different server (a content server) that manages content that you need for your website(s). The main purpose of this is to separate the content data such as text, videos, audio and images from the design and coding elements of a website to ensure easier maintenance and operation of each of these separate elements of the website.
Content servers are mostly used by graphic artists, writers and other content creators.
Staging Server
Staging servers are often the last stage before a website goes live for production. These servers are usually more advanced than testing servers in that they are often similar or exactly the same architecturally or resource-wise as compared to the production server.
More often than not, a staging server is the same as a testing server unless the website being produced is complex and requires a separate staging server as an additional testing stage before the website goes live.
The typical workflow when a staging server is used includes;
- The web designer designs while the web developer codes and creates scripts and elements of the website. Both teams do their tests locally on the development server.
The design and all the coding elements are then merged on the testing server for testing.
Content such as images, text, videos etc. are often included at this stage on the staging server.
Once the content and other elements behave as intended by the designer and developer, the website is approved and is uploaded for production.
The bottom line
Most companies, or web designer and development teams, often have different workflows based on their predetermined best practice rules, but the workflows mentioned above are a basic guideline on how these different servers can be used. The different servers can also either be hosted privately or by third parties.
About author
Nicolette Compa is a Systems Administrator at a bank for the last 8 years, and in her time, she has seen different web hosting services come into the scene and disappear. She recommends https://inexpensivewebhosting.reviews to anyone who wants to make a choice for the most appropriate web hosting service for their needs.
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