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Environment Setup
The staging environment in Crassula is a dedicated test environment that allows clients to test new and existing functionality before deploying changes to the production system. This is a paid feature, and clients can request access by contacting their client managers.
The staging environment is primarily used for:
Testing system updates and bug fixes before deployment.
Verifying new configurations and integrations without impacting live users.
Running performance and functional tests to ensure system stability.
Training internal teams in a non-production setting.
Overview
Crassula operates multiple environments for different stages of software development and deployment:
Environment | Purpose |
|---|---|
Development environment (Dev) | The environment where developers build and test new features, often running locally on a developer’s machine. |
Test environment (Test) | A controlled testing space between development and production where functional and performance testing is conducted. |
Staging environment (Staging) | A near-identical replica of the production environment used for testing updates, configurations, and deployments before applying them to production. |
Production environment (Production) | The live system where actual business operations take place. |
The staging environment is designed to closely replicate the production environment while allowing controlled testing. Unlike development or test environments, staging aims to mirror the real-world setup as accurately as possible.
Key Features of the Staging Environment
Realistic testing conditions: Staging environments replicate production systems, ensuring that updates, configurations, and integrations function properly before going live.
Preloaded test data: Staging setups typically use pre-configured test data, including user accounts and companies. In most cases, a database dump is created specifically for staging environments, closely reflecting the production database while excluding sensitive PCI-related information.
Non-PCI compliance: Unlike production, staging environments are not PCI-compliant, meaning they operate outside the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) scope. This allows for flexibility in infrastructure configuration, including:
Smaller instances
Exclusion of additional security tools (e.g., antivirus)
No uptime or performance monitoring
Differences from production: While staging environments aim to be as close as possible to production, there are some key differences:
No high availability of databases
No SSL certificate issuance or DNS configurations, as the domain is controlled internally
Different configurations for providers, with sandbox environments pre-configured instead of live credentials