We have already updated the Clone Tool in Orion and improved it with regards to performance and stability. We have talked about the cutting edge technology we use for Backups and Clone, that makes backups and cloning faster and more reliable, by only cloning or backing up data that is different. Smart Clone compares the source and destination files. If the file content is the same, it skips them, and clones only the different files and the database. Read more about how the Clone tool works in our previous article.
Clone To Existing In ManageWP
In Classic ManageWP you were able to enjoy the Clone to an existing website tool that made everyone’s lives FTP and hassle free. Clone to existing was a great feature, because it meant you didn’t have to input all of the usual details:
- MySQL database details of the destination website
- FTP login details
You could select the source and destination website and you are good to go. Clone away.
Clone To Existing Is Now In Orion
We have brought the same idea to Orion, just better. Clone to existing uses the same cutting edge technology as our Backups and Clone to a new website tool, but it allows you to clone to an existing website. We have taken something that you already liked and improved it.
Here’s How
Orion is a smarter Clone tool, because it allows less room for error. In other words, instead of cloning from your source website directly to your destination website (like in the Classic), Orion re-routes to our S3 Backup Storage and takes data from there. The re-route eliminates any issues with the source website server settings and server timeouts. This means that there is less chance for your Clone not to be performed successfully.
3 2 1 Clone
Here is what Clone to an existing website looks like in our Orion dashboard. You can easily pick if you wish to perform a Clone to a new website or Clone to an existing website. If you choose Clone to existing, you don’t need to do the usual tedious steps, but you go straight to picking your destination like before. In order to perform this type of Clone, your destination website needs to be added to the Orion dashboard. (same as with the Classic)
An extra feature that we added is having the option to add a New Admin to your destination website. So, that when your Clone is complete, your website already has a new admin set up.
If In Doubt Ask For FTP
Like before if there are any problems with your destination website, Orion will ask you to fill out the additional details (FTP and Database credentials), so to double check that everything is valid and working before the Clone is performed.
Clone Complete
We are trying to make Orion a service made for you so we are listening to what you are saying. Like Zeno of Citium, founder of the Stoic school of philosophy, said:
“We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say.”
Keep telling us what you like or don’t like and what you would like to see in the future.
We are all ears!
Dan Dambrosio
This is a really cool tool that can save me time from migrating my production and live websites constantly after major updates.
Nevena Tomovic
I am glad you are enjoying it!
davewheitner
I’m wondering if it will soon be possible to use ManageWP Orion’s cloning capabilities as a two-way staging tool on hosts that don’t provide one-click staging. This would involve cloning mysite.com to something like staging.mysite.com. Then, after making and testing any changes at stating.mysite.com, clone just the changes back to mysite.com. For future changes, one could update the staging site to reflect any changes to the live site since the last clone, make/test more changes, and then copy just the updates back to the live site. If something like this will be (or perhaps already is) possible, a tutorial on how to do this would be amazing!
Nevena Tomovic
Hi Dave, thanks for your comment, it’s a great idea. We don’t have that quite yet, but a one click system for cloning sites is something that we would like to make happen. We are one step closer to making that happen with our incremental Backup and Clone tools. Our incremental backups work by only copying files that have been modified and the database, it “skips” files that have not been changed. Here is a bit more info on that https://managewp.com/managewp-orion-developer-diary-3-bulletproof-backup-solution. For now it does mean that you need to firstly make a backup, make the changes and then clone it, so it’s a two stage system. We are currently writing our Orion User Guide, which will have in depth explanations on how to perform tasks in Orion. Stay tuned, that’s coming out soon!
davewheitner
Many thanks!
heysmartypantstech
I was happy with the old interface and have enough to do without adding “learn Orion” to list.
Having said that it does look promising…
btw, the blog really needs search functionality.
Thanks.
Nevena Tomovic
Hi there, we have tried to make Orion as easy as possible to learn. Our intention was to make the dashboard more manageable, adaptable and flexible. I am glad you find it promising. We are in the process of writing a User Guide and FAQ’s for Orion, so that will be published in due course, so you will have a place to refer to. We are also in the process of redesigning our blog and that will go live with Orion as well. Hopefully in a few months everything will be easier 🙂 thanks for your feedback!
jpw94
I hate to be a downer here but I have not been able to get this feature to work like the old classic.
I’ve tried cloning to a site I have run locally (and have successfully done with classic) and it completely trashes the destination.
I then set up a test site on my public server and it prompts me for FTP credentials. Something I’m trying to avoid.
What might I be doing wrong?
Nevena Tomovic
Hi, I am sorry to hear that it crashed your destination site and that it’s asking for FTP credentials again. The best thing to do is to contact our support via helpdesk@managewp.com They will check out what the problem is and fix it for you. Let me know if there is anything else I can do.
merchantguru
So… this happened while reading this post. I think she approves! https://twitter.com/MerchantGuru/status/715188485271871489
Nevena Tomovic
I think if she approves, we’ve done it right! Thanks for sharing such a great photo. 🙂
akirazabala
Awesome meets awesome. Couldn’t be more happy with the features and the speed you are developing them! Cheers!
Nevena Tomovic
I’m glad you like it! 🙂
Andrea Gatley
Thank you! I really like the old “clone” feature, good to have it in Orion!
Nevena Tomovic
Yes it was always planned, glad you are enjoying it 🙂