Outsmarting the competition with instant data-complete preview environments

In the high-demand world of software development, access to dependable test environments is non-negotiable. Traditional staging environments are plagued by numerous obstacles, especially when multiple developers collaborate on the same codebase. Even conventional preview environments miss the mark due to the lack of standardized definitions, leaving each provider with fragmented, inconsistent setups. 

Upsun’s Instant Data-Complete Preview Environments flip the script — a true breakthrough for development teams pushing toward peak performance.

You don’t want a single Staging environment.

“Staging” is where you test and validate new features before releasing them to “Production”.

However, relying on one staging environment introduces several headaches. It can crash, bringing progress to a standstill. Changes in staging can conflict with other updates due to poor isolation,  forcing teams into bloated releases with too many features and fixes combined.

You don’t want Preview environments.

Preview Environments vary greatly based on your setup, your PaaS provider, or even your team's practices.

Some providers only handle static front-end content in preview environments, which makes working with decoupled architecture a nightmare. They often suggest manual workarounds to connect and update replicas of your back-ends and services.

Others create empty instances of your services, and don’t support full database replication into preview environments, leaving teams with inefficient, time-consuming seeding processes. These processes either pull data  from production, or load it from external sources like an S3 bucket. But when you seed your database with test data or old production data, the preview environment doesn’t match what’s in production, making it difficult to confidently release changes to your production database. 

These seeding hacks lead to inaccurate, insecure environments that don’t reflect real-world performance, and cause teams to miss critical edge cases during testing.

What you want are Instant Data-complete Preview Environments.

Upsun delivers Instant Data-Complete Preview Environments that perfectly mirror your production environment, including all apps, databases, services, files, and configurations.

Imagine having every service (databases, message queues, search indexes…), your back-end, front-end, and API server, instantly available in your preview environment as an exact replica of production.

Upsun’s instant data cloning enables exact replicas of your production environment to be created in seconds, thanks to our smart copy-on-write mechanism using Ceph RBDs with RADOS capabilities–leveraging fast snapshots, replication, and strong consistency.

Learn more about Upsun’s unique copy-on-write capabilities in this article.

Also, depending on your use case or industry, Upsun provides deploy hooks that allow for data sanitization and anonymization, ensuring safe and secure developments.

Conclusion

Upsun’s Instant Data-Complete Preview Environments eliminate the complexities and inefficiencies of traditional staging and preview environments setups. 

With exact, secure, and rapidly deployable replicated environments, Upsun ensures a smooth development experience that truly outsmarts the competition.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: What are Instant Data-Complete Preview Environments?
A1: Upsun’s Instant Data-Complete Preview Environments are exact replicas of production environments, including all apps, databases, services, and configurations. These environments can be created instantly, ensuring that developers work with a complete, up-to-date copy of production, reducing release risk and deployment delays.

Q2: Why are traditional staging environments problematic for development teams?
A2: Traditional staging environments often suffer from crashes and conflicts due to poor isolation, leading to bloated releases with too many features combined. Additionally, teams may face delays when staging environments break or become unavailable.

Q3: What are the limitations of conventional preview environments?  
A3: Conventional preview environments vary greatly depending on setup and often lack complete database replication, making them inefficient. They frequently require manual workarounds or time-consuming data seeding processes that result in inaccurate environments not reflective of real production.

Q4: How does Upsun’s data cloning mechanism work?  
A4: Upsun uses a smart copy-on-write mechanism, powered by Ceph RBDs and RADOS, enabling fast snapshots and consistent replication. This allows instant creation of production-like environments, complete with full data and configuration, ensuring consistency and rapid availability.

Q5: What security features does Upsun offer with Instant Data-Complete Preview Environments?  
A5: Upsun includes deploy hooks for data sanitization and anonymization, ensuring secure developments by safely handling sensitive data when creating preview environments.