Forum Moderators: phranque
There is something I have always struggled with: the storage or files and the problem of
redundancy. My website is hosted on a shared hosting. With that come the following
problems:
-when I make changs to the website or update it, sometimes I make the changes in my computer
then FTP them to the server.
-Other times, I just update it on the server using Front Page, but that creates a problem,
because the new update is only avaialble on the server but not on my computer. In other
words, the files on the server and the file on my computer are not synched!
I mean I can go to use my FTP to download the new updates to my computer, but that takes a
long time, and a lot of manual work, because you have to know which files have changed etc.
Based on the above, here are some questions, I would really appreciate an answer, because I
know I am not doing things the right way.
1-(provided that your website is hosted somewhere): do you work on your website on your
computer first, then FTP them, or do you just work on them on the server?
2-If you work on them on the server, how do you make sure you have a second synced and
updated copy on your computer?
3-Speaking of having copies, I sometimes just download whatever is on my server on my computer, using FTP, but it never works, as it always times out. This is really frustrating. And I can't sit there to make sure it doesn't time out, because my website is some 1.5 gb in size. I just want to let the FTP run and do its job, without me having to restart it evetrytime.
Any tips on how to do this would be greatly appreciated, because I know I am not doing things right or the efficient way.
Thank You
But otherwise, I would suggest always editing on your workstation and uploading the changes to the server. If you have path problems, you can share the folder on your Windows workstation where you keep your site files, then map that folder to a different drive letter on the same workstation. That way, "/index.html" will refer to your home page both on the server and workstation.
FTP is a badly designed protocol. Timeouts and firewall issues are common. SFTP is a great alternative, but it's not widely supported on Windows servers or shared servers.
If you're using FP without the extensions then you're using FP's version of FTP. FTP can break some functionality of certain FP components that work with the server extensions.
If you're just FTPing things back and forth then you could use something like rsync to keep files synched up between your server and local copy. There are also various FTP sync options in programs like WS_FTP that will accomplish essentially the same thing (if not a bit slower).
Once you finish your job, use NetLoad (an old W98 program) and make an exact replica of your local site on the server/online site.
NetLoad will upload just the updated files and delete the deleted files.
BUT
Before working at any update
I overwrite the production server file on my test server (or your PC)
so I am sure that I work in sync.
Now in order to catch up
First save a local copy of your existing files on your PC then D-load the whole site from its server location.
Open and look at every files, kill dupes etc..
Then use a good text editor and use its compare function
Next wait till next year and make a new resolution about keeping your site in sync :)
