Plan deployments

Optimizely Content Management System (CMS) is a scalable platform that you can deploy in many ways: on a single server, virtual machines, web farm network clusters, or in a cloud-based or locally hosted environment.

Plan and prepare

There are many good approaches for website development, from classic to iterative. How you plan, build, design, integrate, test, and deliver your solutions relies on approaches to standardizing your process to make it easy to maintain and enhance your solutions.

Development usually takes place on a developer workstation, and the solution is then deployed to a test environment. After successful testing, it is deployed to a live production web server.

You should coordinate your requirements, deployment architecture, systems integration needs, and infrastructure upfront. Good planning and preparation save a lot of time and effort over a website's lifetime.

Before you deploy a website, consider the following:

• What preparations do you need?
• What technical aspects must you consider during development?
  • How should you build content?
  • How is the acceptance testing done?
• Should you migrate content from an existing website or create a website from scratch?
• What features do you want implemented on the website?
• How will you host and maintain the website: on-premises or using a cloud-based solution?

See also the System requirements for Optimizely when planning your implementation.

Develop

The primary development of your solution focuses on requirements and iterative delivery, with frequent communication with your end users and customers. The more you communicate and show progress during this phase, the more solid your efforts and results are as you move into integration and testing.

Test

After you complete core development, thoroughly test and verify your system, including the public-facing portion, the business logic you have developed, the back-end systems, and your interfaces with third-party systems and controls. Also, test your solution in conjunction with the expected business processes and operational support teams that are operating and managing the solution.

Deploy

Deploying a CMS solution requires planning and timing to roll out your solution to a live or production environment to ensure your customers' experience is good. Your deployment may take different forms, such as a cut-over from an existing system or launching your new site from a new system.

Maintain

The final stage is ongoing maintenance, enhancements, and improvements that are part of growing and supporting your CMS solution.