Webscale Go-live Process

A brief explanation of the go-live process for your application on Webscale’s network

What to expect from the go-live process

Once your application has been fully integrated into Webscale’s network and tested, it will be ready to go live. Before the final go-live process can take place, there are some checks both you and Webscale will do to ensure a smooth transition.

Before go-live

Before the site goes live, perform some testing to ensure the application works as expected. You will also work with Webscale’s team to ensure that important information and dates are agreed on to avoid any miscommunication, possible delays, or unforeseen downtime of the application.

Pre-live checklist

The pre-live checklist is a list of items that the Webscale team will complete before the go-live date. In some cases, they may require some assistance from you on certain steps in the pre-live checklist. If this is the case, the Webscale team will reach out to you to let you know.

Testing

Test your code deployment process. Your codebase needs to be properly deployed prior to go-live.
Test that every action that every user can take on the site will work appropriately from all allowed IP addresses. This testing includes the following:
- General browsing on the site (both as a customer logged in or out).
- Proceed through the entire checkout process (start to finish) for all types of products.
- Ensure that all product and category pages load as expected.
- Every user who uses the Admin panel should test that their functionality works properly for themselves.
- Developers must test their code deployment process.
Webscale will contact you via the dedicated Slack channel once the pre-live checklist is complete.

Other important steps

You and Webscale will work out the go-live date and time. Any changes should be communicated as soon as possible. We request at least 3 business days advance notice to schedule resources for the go-live and to complete the pre-live checklist.
Between now and the go-live date, Webscale will stay in communication with you on the status of the transition. This may be done via Slack or email, or both.
To avoid excessive downtime, please lower the TTL on your DNS zone prior to go-live day. Webscale will communicate the proper DNS records to use when launching the site.
Your deployment team will want to familiarize themselves with Webscale CLI, Webscale’s command-line tool.

The go-live process

Within three days of the date you’ve chosen for the site to go live, Webscale will complete a dry-run of the site and perform some testing. There are also some steps you will have to take. This process includes some or all of the following tasks, depending on your application:

Is maintenance mode available on the current site? Webscale offers maintenance mode for the application once it’s on our network, and this will be set during testing. You can and should upload a custom maintenance page in your Webscale control panel. See How to Set Maintenance Mode for instructions.
Webscale will ensure there is a final sync/copy of the application’s database, media, and any NFS (network file system). This can also be done by you or your development partner.
You and Webscale both will then test the site using a temporary hostname.
At least one day prior to go-live day, lower the TTL on the DNS zone for the domain the application will use. Once the TTL change has propagated, the new host record entry can be added as it will now propagate more quickly, reducing any downtime. Make this change at the pre-arranged time.
The last step is to unset the Webscale maintenance page and then test the site using the domain instead of the temporary hostname.

Completion

Once the site has gone live, you’ll receive a confirmation email from Webscale Networks. This email will contain a link you can click to schedule a meeting with the customer success team. In this meeting you can discuss how the process has gone so far and what to expect from the Webscale customer success team. The email also contains important information about contacting support and using the Webscale Control Panel.

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