A staging (test) copy of your WordPress site lets you safely try updates, plugin changes, and design edits without risking the live website.
On GARMTECH WordPress hosting, the easiest method is Plesk WordPress Toolkit → Clone.
Before you start
- Make sure your WordPress installation is visible in Plesk → WordPress (WordPress Toolkit).
- If your site receives orders/leads, remember that a clone may contain real customer data. Keep staging private.
1) Create a staging copy (Clone)
- Log in to Plesk from My.GARMTECH.
- Open WordPress (WordPress Toolkit).
- Find your production (live) WordPress site and click Clone.
- Choose the target:
- Create subdomain and enter a prefix like
staging or dev (example: staging.example.com), or
- Use existing domain or subdomain if you already created one.
- Confirm the clone operation and wait until it finishes.
Plesk will copy the WordPress files and create a separate database for the staging copy.
2) Protect the staging site (recommended)
Staging should not be indexed by search engines and should not be accessible to the public.
- Password protection (Plesk): in Plesk open the staging domain → use Password-protected directories (menu name can vary) and set a login/password.
- Discourage indexing (WordPress): WordPress admin → Settings → Reading → enable “Discourage search engines from indexing this site”.
3) Enable SSL on staging
If you want to test the site with HTTPS, issue a Let’s Encrypt certificate for the staging subdomain in Plesk (Websites & Domains → staging domain → SSL/TLS).
4) Copy changes back to production (carefully)
There are different safe workflows depending on what you changed:
- Design / theme changes: usually you can replicate the steps manually on production.
- Plugin updates: update the same plugins on production after testing.
- Database/content changes: copying a database from staging to production can overwrite newer orders/posts. Use extra care on active sites.
Tip: keep your staging separate
- Do not connect staging to live payment gateways.
- Disable outgoing emails from staging (or use a test mailbox) so test emails do not reach real customers.
