Copy an Environment

When you make a copy of your environment, Engine Yard copies your environment structure without the data so you can perform necessary tests in a “new” environment. You can select a different technology stack, application server, database, instance size, and all the other configurations associated with an environment set-up. If you need to add instances (such as a database instance), you can do so after the copy has been created and saved.

The following components related to your environment are copied:

• Applications
• SSH Keypairs
• Custom Chef recipes
• Cron jobs
• SSL certificates

The following components are NOT copied:

• Application data
• Load balancers
• Unix packages
• System gems

You will need to add these components to your new environment as appropriate.

Use Cases

Making a copy of your environment can be useful for the following:

• Trying your application on a different Engine Yard technology stack, for example switching from Engine Yard Gentoo 2009 to Engine Yard Gentoo 12.11. See Upgrade from Engine Yard Gentoo 2009 (stable-v2) to 12.11 (stable-v4) with Custom Chef.
• Changing your instance type with minimal interruption to your application.
• Testing your application and cookbooks in an upgraded environment.

Important Notes

Keep the following in mind when planning your environment copy:

• You must perform a backup and restore of your database to get your data associated with the new environment.
• Cron jobs will automatically start processing data as soon as the first Chef run finishes (even if the data has not been added to the environment). Engine Yard recommends testing your new/copied environment as a staging environment first.

Prerequisites

To make a copy of your environment, it must contain at least one instance (live or inactive). You can not copy environments that do not have attached instances.

Copy your Environment

To make a copy of your environment:

1. Log on to Engine Yard and navigate to your environment.
2. Verify that you have at least one instance in your environment. The instances can be inactive or live, but your environment must have at least one instance.
3. Click in the More Options area.

   A copy of your environment is now available for editing.

4. Make the necessary updates to your environment options.
5. Click Copy Environment.

   A Copy Environment Requests page shows your active copy request and any failed or successful copies.

   

6. When the copy has completed successfully, it is displayed in the Successful Copies section.

   

7. (Optional) When you are ready, perform a backup and restore of your database to get your data associated with the new environment. See the Upgrade Guide for more information.

More Information

These other resources might help you:

If you have feedback or questions about this page, add a comment below. If you need help, submit a ticket with Engine Yard Support.