Periodically customers will require a sandbox or otherwise non-production environment for experimentation and testing in MetaLocator. MetaLocator offers three strategies for the establishment of a staging environment.
Customers are free to establish a new trial account. This trial account must be created under a separate email address, in which they can perform all manner of tests as required. If needed, customers can request permissions and add-ons that mirror their production environment. Trial accounts last only 30 days and can not be used for production purposes.
Customers can request access to our staging environment. The staging environment is a sanitized copy of the production data which is periodically synchronized with production. Staging accounts must not be used for production purposes (e.g. installation on customer production Websites). In this staging environment the following conditions are present:
Customers log in with a numerical version of their production identity, (E.g. metalocator+12345@metalocator.com), if your production User Id is 12345. This avoids the need to manage multiple email addresses.
Staging does not send any email. This prevents the accidental email of real customers through our lead and other email functions. Password resets, normally handled via email, can be requested via the help desk.
Staging does not send any text messages.
Staging does not trigger or track internal analytics.
Staging is initialized with an anonymized set of data from the production environment. Email addresses, leads, reviews and phone numbers are removed or anonymized.
Staging is periodically refreshed with production data. This occurs every 30 days after the account is established, or upon request. Interface settings are not synchronized, as they can contain sensitive information.
Staging should be used to store, backup or otherwise save data and settings. Staging is periodically refreshed and data loss could occur.
When switching accounts between staging and production, deleting cookies may be necessary if you are unable to log in.
Staging is not nearly as powerful as our production systems, and so performance is not indicative of production systems.
Customers can purchase a separate, standalone production account. When staging requirements include publishing real data in a production environment as in a large migration or transition, a separate, standalone account can be purchased. Migrating data and settings between production would be done via the usual import and export controls.