Q100569: Creating a Flix Test server

Ivo

Updated : January 25, 2024 21:25

Created : March 05, 2020 01:32

SUMMARY

This article provides information about the benefits of having a test Flix server alongside the studio’s production Flix setup, a recommended setup for such an install, and a step-by-step installation guide. The article assumes there is already a working Flix environment present, used for production.

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There are multiple reasons to have a test Flix environment alongside your production Flix setup, such as:

We recommend internal testing of new Flix major versions (e.g. 6.2 -> 6.3) before deploying to artists, as rolling back can be time-consuming and involve a few changes such as a Database downgrade, asset migration, etc...
It gives the studio a chance to assess the benefits of the new version over one currently used in production.
Some config options and customization may require changes, which should be tested.
It gives the studio a chance to identify potential changes and issues which could affect end-users in production.
You can use it for testing beta versions of Flix and give us feedback on that version before it is released.

The recommended setup for a test server should be as follows:

Similar environment to production environment - don’t introduce too many variables that could impact testing vs production results.
Same Storage, but different asset directory.
- Likely to cause issues if using the same asset directory for production and test installs
- Likely to want temp/test assets regularly cleared, but keep production assets untouched

Same Database server, but different DB schema
- Likely to want to clear the DB schema when testing is done.

Warning: Currently there isn’t an automated way to migrate assets and data from one environment to another, so anything created on the test environment needed on the production environment will need to be done manually (i.e. export panels from test and import in production).

Step by step instructions on creating the test environment:

Create a new test server/VM(s), with similar specs to production server/VM(s)
Install test license on test server/VM(s) - get in touch with support@foundry.com or your Foundry Sales representative to receive a new license for testing purposes.
Create a new Flix test directory where you will keep the test Flix version and download the flix_server from https://www.foundry.com/products/flix/download
Copy your production “config.yml” file to your new test Flix directory.
Update the “hostname” entry in the new “config.yml” file to be the hostname/IP of the test server.
Update the “mysql_database” entry in the new “config.yml” file to “flix_test”.
The first time you run your Flix test server, a new DB schema will be created with this name, and it will be separate from the production one. If you are using a different DB server from the production one entirely, you can keep using the default schema name (flix), but please make sure you can keep the two DB servers separate.
Update the "asset_directory" option to point to a different directory from the one used in production. This will store all assets from the test environment to this new directory, leaving production assets untouched. We recommend using similar storage to mimic the production environment as closely as possible.
Start the flix_server from the new test Flix directory.

After testing

Feel free to clear the test assets directory.
Feel free to clear the “flix_test” DB schema.

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