We have expanded our free staging environment to include a new, paid Staging Add-on, which offers you even more capabilities for your development workflows.
With the new Add-on, you will be able to create multiple staging environments within a single Box – for example, to implement a complete development workflow with Development, Staging, and Live environments.
The Add-on also equips staging environments with a dedicated backup system that is independent of the live site.
How to Activate the Staging Add-on
To add the Staging Add-on to your contract, you have two paths to choose from. Both will lead you to the Subscription Management in the new Raidboxes Dashboard.
Navigate to the staging area of your Box. There you will find the BOOK STAGING ADD-ON button. Clicking this button will take you directly to the Box's contract, where you can add the Add-on.
Alternatively, navigate yourself to the new Raidboxes Dashboard and open the subscription associated with your Box.
In the lower section of the subscription details page, you can now add Add-ons.
In the first step of the booking process, your current subscription will be displayed. No changes need to be made here. In the second step, you can add the Add-on.
As soon as the add-on is booked, switch back to the old Dashboard. Next to the "Staging Environments" heading, the count has now increased from 1 to 2.
If you have previously created a staging environment, please delete it first to use the new environments.
Creating and Managing New Environments
After activation, you will now see the new Environment Overview in your Box. All existing environments are displayed in a list here.
Click on + CREATE NEW STAGING ENVIRONMENT [1] to create a new environment.
It will be available to you after a few minutes, and you can access the details in the list [2].
The number of your environments [3] is displayed directly next to the "Staging environments" heading.
Once the environments are created, you will find them in the list.
From there, you can:
Access the Box overview pages for the respective environments [4],
Visit the frontend sites of the environments by clicking the URL [5],
Go to the WordPress login page for the respective environment [6],
Start deployments in all directions [7],
Rename the respective environment [8],
Delete the respective environment [9].
Transferring Content Between Environments (Deployments)
With the new Staging Add-on, you can flexibly transfer content between your environments – not just from Staging to Live. Possible examples:
From Development → Staging
From Staging → Live
From Live → Development
This makes you even more flexible when testing, developing, and rolling out changes. For example, you no longer need to delete an active staging environment to transfer the current content from the live site to staging.
To start a deployment, click the Cloud Upload Icon [7] in the list of staging environments to select the source and target Box. A modal will open where you can select the direction of the data transfer using the Source [10] and Destination [11] drop-downs.
Furthermore, you can use the EXPERT MODE [12] button to define which parts of the database [13] and which directories [14] should be copied. Finally, you can start the transfer using the DEPLOY button.
The New Detail Page for Your Staging Environment
When you click on the name of your environment [4] in the environment overview, you will be taken to the new detail page – the central place where you will find all important information and settings for the respective environment in the future.
Currently, you will find here:
The options for deploying, renaming, and deleting the environment [16]
The data for website access [17]
Links to the Live Access and Error logs for this environment [18]
A link to the phpMyAdmin database management for this environment [19]
SFTP and SSH connection details, [20] and [21]
The link to the WordPress login [22]
Using the <- BACK [23] button, you can return to your environment overview.
The BACKUPS [24] menu item takes you directly to the backup system for the respective Staging environment.
Even if the page looks familiar at the moment, a lot is new in the background: Each of your environments now runs as a completely separate Box. With this, we are laying the foundation for many new possibilities that will follow in the next releases.
The Backup Section of Your Staging Environment
The Add-on also equips Staging environments with a dedicated backup system.
Just as you are used to with your Live site, you can create manual backups [25] here and use all the standard backup functions [26]. This includes deleting, downloading, and restoring backups. Additionally, you have the option to clone an entirely new Box from a Staging Box backup.
Automatic backups are included; however, the full functionality will be enabled shortly.
Outlook: What's Next
With Release 1, we are launching with the ability to create multiple environments within a single Box and equipping them with their own backup system. In upcoming releases, the Staging Add-on will become even more comprehensive:
Individual PHP versions and PHP settings per environment
Independent WordPress versions per environment
In short: The new detail page is your future control center for every environment – already clearly structured and ready for everything to come. 🚀
Pricing
In the following table, you will find the pricing for the Staging Add-on.
The prices are net and monthly for each Box on which the Staging Add-on is activated. The respective partner discounts are already included in the columns for partners.
Plan | Single Customers | Silver Partner | Gold Partner | Platinum Partner | Diamond Partner |
Discount |
| 30 % | 40 % | 50 % | 60 % |
Mini | €2.50 | €1.75 | €1.50 | €1.25 | €1.00 |
Starter | €2.50 | €1.75 | €1.50 | €1.25 | €1.00 |
Fully Managed* | included | included | included | included | included |
Pro | €2.50 | €1.75 | €1.50 | €1.25 | €1.00 |
Pro XL | €5.00 | €3.50 | €3.00 | €2.50 | €2.00 |
Business | €10.00 | €7.00 | €6.00 | €5.00 | €4.00 |
Business XL | €10.00 | €7.00 | €6.00 | €5.00 | €4.00 |
Business XXL | €10.00 | €7.00 | €6.00 | €5.00 | €4.00 |
*Applies to Boxes in the Fully Managed plan or with a paid Fully Managed Add-on, not for Boxes with activated Automatic Updates in other plans.
Questions, Suggestions, Ideas?
Contact us anytime via email at support@raidboxes.de or through our support chat in the Raidboxes Dashboard, during our support hours, every day between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. 🚀