Dev Portal to Live environment

[matthu]

Hi,

I have built a portal in my development environment and i would like to copy it over to my live environment. 

With my 'solutions' it's an easy process - I export my solution from dev as a managed file and import it to my live environment without affecting any data in either environment but the portal doesn't seem to offer that option.

In live I have the same apps/solutions as I have in dev - I don't need to take any data from my dev environment (its all useless anonymous test data) and I definitely don't want the export to affect any client data in my live environment 

I want to continue developing my portal going forward then release updates to the live portal as and when - is there any best practices for this?

I hope I have explained myself well enough - sorry if not. 

My chief concern is not losing any data in my live environment, I am using the dynamics customer service app and the portal is a portal from blank that shows lists and forms from the customer service app.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice,

Matt

[ragavanrajan]

Hi @matthu 

The method which you are using is a manual export and import it into the environment.  I would suggest you use the Microsoft preferred way using "Configuration Migration Tool". The Configuration Migration tool is used to transport configuration and test data from one environment to another

official ref: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/alm/configure-and-deploy-tools 

Keep in mind that this tool will transfer everything to a live environment. 

The following are the best practice 

1. You can have dev, test and live environment 

2. You can perform all your dev activities with dummy data in the dev environment 

3. Always transfer from Test to Live environment using the configuration migration utility 

Alternatively, there are many tools available in XRMToolbox where you can utilise n number of tools and choose what you want to do. For instance, Bulk update, data transfer, CDS migration, attribute updates etc.. 

Adding one of the tools as ref

https://www.xrmtoolbox.com/plugins/Capgemini.DataMigration.XrmToolBoxPlugin/ 

Bonus: If you prefer three environments for your portal, then you can sign up for PowerPlatform dev plan 

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/maker/developer-plan 

Hope it helps. 

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[matthu]

Thankyou for your response that’s really helpful, if I wanted to transfer the portal and it’s configurations but no data (as there is already live customer data in my live environment) is that an option or does it pick up everything and copy it across? 

[matthu]

@ragavanrajan 

Apologies for not understanding - I think i read some information and got confused.

I saw data and assumed it was data as in contact information of a person etc but i think it meant "configuration data" which of course is a totally different thing. I was worried that if the tool picked up data and put it in my live environment that it would corrupt the existing data. For example two records that are different but have the same unique identifier exist in each environment ie dev and live. 

Now I think i understand it better. Please say if I have got it wrong though?

[ragavanrajan · Accepted solution]

HI @matthu ,

If you plan to use the Configuration Migration tool aka DataMigrationUtility you can pick 

1. Tables 

2. Fields from the table 

Example below 

Once you save and Export then you can import it into the appropriate environment. But it will transfer all the data. 

If you need to transfer the only configuration but no data then I would recommend XRMToolbox and choose appropriate tools.  I use the following tools

1. Portal Records mover (very useful) 

2. Data Transporter 

3. CDS Data migrator 

These tools will be definitely useful for your migration. 

Hope it helps. 
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[matthu]

Thankyou @ragavanrajan