Plan a deployment
Optimizely Content Management System (CMS) 13 scales across multiple deployment topologies: single server, virtual machines, web farm clusters, cloud-hosted environments, and on-premises installations.
Plan and prepare
Website development approaches range from waterfall to iterative. Standardize your planning, building, designing, integrating, testing, and delivery process to simplify maintenance and enhancement.
Developers build the solution on their workstations, then deploy it to a test environment. After testing succeeds, deploy the solution to the live production server.
Coordinate requirements, deployment architecture, systems integration, and infrastructure upfront. Planning and preparation reduce long-term effort and cost.
Before deployment, answer the following questions:
- What preparations are required?
- What technical considerations affect development?
- How will you structure and build content?
- How will you perform acceptance testing?
- Will you migrate content from an existing site or build from scratch?
- What features does the site require?
- Where will you host and maintain the site: on-premises or in the cloud?
See System requirements for infrastructure and software prerequisites.
Develop
Primary development focuses on requirements and iterative delivery with frequent communication to end users and customers. Communicating progress during this phase strengthens integration and testing outcomes.
Test
After core development completes, test and verify the entire system: the public-facing site, business logic, back-end systems, and third-party integrations. Test the solution with the business processes and operational support teams who will manage it.
Deploy
Plan deployment carefully to ensure a smooth rollout to production. Deployment can take several forms: cutting over from an existing system, launching a new site, or phased migration.
Maintain
The final stage includes ongoing maintenance, enhancements, and improvements to grow and support your Optimizely solution.