Automatically sync certain files between local and live?

  • I just figured out that I can use a synchronizing workflow in FileZilla to maintain a two-way sync between two directories – one local and one remote.

    I’m relatively new, but would there be anything precluding me from synchronizing, say, my wp-admin and wp-content folders to reflect changes live without having to use the Duplicator plugin and the database configuration workflow?

    I already have a local copy of the site and a live version. If this isn’t possible, or is only possible with some premium solution, I’d like to know that too.

    Thanks in advance for your help!

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

  • I am not aware of anything you would be changing in wp-admin, but I could imagine synchronizing the /themes/ folder as long as you were working from a different folder locally while making modifications to copy into that folder. As to uploads, something like image optimizations could be synchronized as long as file names remained the same, but synchronization via FileZilla would not get new uploads registered in the database (media library).

    To extend what Lee said above. Synchronising themes would make sense if you were developing locally and deploying to live, same for plugins. A case could be made that it would work both ways for wp-content/uploads, pushing new images etc up to live from development, also bringing down submitted content to participate in local testing.
    However there are no other files in the WordPress site which have any justification or rationale as to why they would change, they only change in an update and surely you would want to run the update process in the server rather than just throw the files at it.

    The big point that I feel is missing is that using Filezilla to sync the files leaves the major part of the WordPress site out of the picture, MOST OF YOUR SITE LIVES IN THE DATABASE, without a strategy to sync the database I feel that you will find your solution unsatisfactory.

    I think it not good for that, because if your computer contain virus it also upload automatic to your live site too. I think you can use FTP to manage all the work.

    if your computer contain virus it also upload automatic to your live site too. I think you can use FTP to manage all the work.

    FTP is unencrypted and uses your browser’s cache, still leaving you vulnerable to prying, so it is best to only ever use SFTP/FTPS while working at a site. And in my own case, BlueHost has recently helped me add a free self-signed certificate (along with a dedicated IP) so we now have the encryption of SSL even without using https:// in place of https:// (and the certificate never displays unless https:// *is* added to the URL).

    iShouvik

    (@shouvikmukherjee)

    Hello,
    I think it’s time you adapted to Git. It is very easy to maintain sync between the production setup and development setups for multiple developers without much of a hassle. If you are on CPanel and/or can’t install git on your production server you can always use services like Deploy HQ which offer free plans along with more powerful paid plans.

    and, I agree with LeeJosepho, you better configure your server with SFTP instead of FTP. It’s a bit slower than FTP but that is negligible.

    Please, feel free to let me know if you require more help.

    ~ Cheers!

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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