Non-Production Cascade Servers

In addition to our production Cascade CMS server we also have 2 non-production Cascade CMS servers: Cascade TEST and Cascade DEV.

We periodically (a few times a year) re-clone these servers from the production Cascade CMS.
- Cloning destroys anything on the server that is not on the production server.
Content on these servers will NEVER automatically appear in production.
- You would need to cut-and-paste manually and re-perform any other actions.
For these reasons:
- You typically won't use non-production Cascade servers for developing new websites or new content within an existing website unless it's worth doing everything twice.
- Please contact creative@wm.edu if you have a project you'd like to try out on a non-production server.

As a Cascade Manager, you can visit Cascade TEST at cascadetst.wm.edu
- You will have the same permissions and content you had on the production server at the time we last cloned — often a few months old.
Cascade TEST publishes to an associated non-production web server
- Web server URLs look like: https://tst-[yoursite]/path
  e.g., https://tst-law.wm.edu/about
The associated non-production (published) web server requires this specific login:
- User = reweb
- Password = Oceans31
- This is not a secret; it simply keeps Google bots out.
Usage
- Web & Design frequently uses TEST to build new page types, row types & other features.
- Occasionally we'll build a proof-of-concept for a new website, or an extensive overhaul of an existing website.
Cascade Managers
- We may ask you to preview or test a new or revamped feature or website.
  - In these cases, we'll send you a link to either cascadetst.wm.edu or test-{Site}.wm.edu
- You may utilize Cascade TEST on your own
  - You could try out a new feature or row type to see how it works.
  - You could test out a series of changes to your content or folder structure that you want to make sure behave as you expected.
  - If you wish to work on something over the course of days or weeks, please let us know at [[creative]] so we don't schedule a refresh and destroy your work mid-project.
- We inform Cascade Managers when we plan to refresh Cascade TEST.

Cascade DEV is more volatile than Cascade TEST, as we use it for:
- testing new upgrades/versions of Cascade CMS
- testing updates to the underlying Linux/Apache server running in Amazon's cloud
- attempting an overhaul of a whole Site, or a substantial portion of a Site, to make sure it works without unintended consequences.
Please do not use Cascade DEV for your own testing and trials.
- We do not inform Cascade Managers when we plan to refresh Cascade DEV.