Staged Channel Deployment

So what exactly is a staged deployment environment? It is basically an industry standard practice of separating your development, testing and production systems.

When using Git with this model you can create development, testing and production repositories and move your code between them as it moves through the stages. This helps to make the whole deployment process a lot easier to manage.

Deployment stage	Purpose	Repository	Description
Development	Create and modify code	Local Iguana repository Development repository	Coding is performed by a developer using Iguana on a desktop machine. The developer will commit changes in the Iguana builtin repository while working on the code. Once he is satisfied that the code is complete he will export changes to a shared development repository. Some code testing will usually be performed at this stage to ensure it integrates correctly with (and does not break) other code. Any testing at this stage will have a technical code based focus and will be performed by another developer, or someone with a development background. Automated backtesting can also be performed. Once the code is working correctly in the development environment it can then be exported to the testing repository. Note: Some technical or backtesting can be performed at the next stage there there is no hard and fast rule, it is really what works best in your environment.
Testing	Test code to ensure that if performs according to specification	Testing repository	More thorough testing is done at this stage, with a much more business and user oriented focus. Basically you want to make sure that all the data is processed correctly according to the business requirements. Testing at this stage is often broken down into three steps: Integration testing to check that no side effects are accidentally introduced, will often include automated backtesting and/or be performed by technical users. Quality Assurance, where you test that the business requirements are met, probably performed by more business oriented users. Staging or Pre-production, where you test against a mirror of the production environment, this is basically a final test to ensure that code is safe to release, and usually involves production IT staff (DBAs, network admins, etc). Once the code passes all the required tests then it can be exported to the production repository.
Production	Production code to keep track of code releases	Production repository	The production repository is used to track code releases. Only the production ready release candidates should be stored in the production repository. To complete the release process the code will need to be copied to the live Iguana production server. Note: Releasing code to live servers occurs after it is uploaded to the production repository, it could be days or even weeks later depending on business requirements.

Deployment stage

Purpose

Repository

Description

Development

Create and modify code

Local Iguana repository
Development repository

Coding is performed by a developer using Iguana on a desktop machine. The developer will commit changes in the Iguana builtin repository while working on the code. Once he is satisfied that the code is complete he will export changes to a shared development repository.

Some code testing will usually be performed at this stage to ensure it integrates correctly with (and does not break) other code. Any testing at this stage will have a technical code based focus and will be performed by another developer, or someone with a development background. Automated backtesting can also be performed.

Once the code is working correctly in the development environment it can then be exported to the testing repository.

Note: Some technical or backtesting can be performed at the next stage there there is no hard and fast rule, it is really what works best in your environment.

Testing

Test code to ensure that if performs according to specification

Testing repository

More thorough testing is done at this stage, with a much more business and user oriented focus. Basically you want to make sure that all the data is processed correctly according to the business requirements.

Testing at this stage is often broken down into three steps:

Integration testing to check that no side effects are accidentally introduced, will often include automated backtesting and/or be performed by technical users.
Quality Assurance, where you test that the business requirements are met, probably performed by more business oriented users.
Staging or Pre-production, where you test against a mirror of the production environment, this is basically a final test to ensure that code is safe to release, and usually involves production IT staff (DBAs, network admins, etc).

Once the code passes all the required tests then it can be exported to the production repository.

Production

Production code to keep track of code releases

Production repository

The production repository is used to track code releases. Only the production ready release candidates should be stored in the production repository.

To complete the release process the code will need to be copied to the live Iguana production server.

Note: Releasing code to live servers occurs after it is uploaded to the production repository, it could be days or even weeks later depending on business requirements.

Iguana Documentation