The 20-Minute Test Environment, Part II

Last week you set up a Patron Edge test environment, and now you're ready to get going with the web side of things. Here is how to get your Patron Edge Online test environment up and running in 20 minutes.

Restore some data
We're switching this up a bit from last time, since PEO doesn't use the Blackbaud Management Console. Through SQL Management Studio, create a backup of your live PEO database and restore it on your test machine. For the sake of speed, run the DB Cleaner function before backing up.

Install Patron Edge Online
Run the PEO installer, choosing all three components when asked what to install (website files, PE communication components, and PEO communication components). There are a couple of places where it will ask you to make a connection to your PEO and PE databases. For simplicity, choose SQL Authentication on these screens and use the 'sa' account. You'll be able to pick your PE and PEO databases from a list. On any screen that asks for an IP address, use 127.0.0.1, and leave all of the ports at their defaults. Don't check any boxes on screens where it talks about internal/external IP stuff, just click Next to fly right through those.

Copy custom files and images
There are many ways to get your stuff across, but for the sake of getting this thing running in 20 minutes, here's what to do:

• Grab a copy of your live PEOSite folder and move it to the desktop of the test machine.
• Open the folder and delete the file called global.asa.
• Drag the folder into C:\Program Files\Blackbaud\The Patron Edge Online and click Yes to All when prompted.

If you have any customizations that use DLLs, you'll need to copy those over as well and register them. This differs from site to site, so you'll just have to know what any custom DLLs are named and where they are located.

And that's PEO in 20 minutes! Are you experiencing any problems while setting up your test system, or did I cover it pretty well? Leave a note in the comments.