What Do ‘Labs’, ‘Beta’, and ‘Production’ and ‘Dev’ Mean?
Last updated 20th April 2023
Your SchemeServe website has a unique address, or ‘URL’, which will look something like:
https://COMPANYNAME.schemeserve.com
This is the URL of the ‘Production’ i.e. the live environment and where you will spend most of your time. However, there are a number of other ‘environments’ which are useful from time to time. The complete list of environments is as follows:
PRODUCTION – the stable production site.
[site_url]
LABS – the unstable production site (including cutting edge features for the experts amoung us).
[company name].labs.schemeserve.com
BETA – the beta site, for SchemeServe staff to perform testing.
[company name].beta.schemeserve.com
DEV – the development site (an environment for only experienced developers to use).
[company name].dev.schemeserve.com
If you log a Helpdesk Ticket over at http://support.schemeserve.com you will be asked whether you are using the ‘Production’ environment, ‘Labs’ or ‘Beta’.
The Production Environment
This is the standard live environment that runs the latest version of SchemeServe. It has been released to all SchemeServe sites.
Any changes, deletions or additions made to data in the ‘Production Environment’ will affect your live data.
In most cases you will be using the ‘Production Environment’ unless you have chosen to use the ‘Labs’ or ‘Beta’ environment.
The Labs Environment
The ‘Labs Environment’ uses your live data on the absolutely latest version of SchemeServe. ‘Labs’ has had a reduced level of testing with respect to the Production Environment, which means it is best left to expert, or more technical users. Features found on ‘Labs’ may be temperamental, and disappear at any time.
Important Notes:– Any changes, deletions or additions made to data in the ‘Labs Environment’ will affect your live data.
– Labs is NOT a test system.
– The ‘Labs Environment’ is provided without any warranties or guarantees, and is available ‘as is’ for use at your own risk.
Accessing the Labs Environment
When you login to SchemeServe just change the URL in the address bar to include the word ‘Labs’.
So if your normal URL is https://acme.schemeserve.com you will need to change this to read https://acme.schemeserve.com/labs.
The ‘Labs Environment’ logo will be displayed on all pages so that it is clear which environment you are working in.
The Beta Environments
The ‘Beta Environment’ is a test system for SchemeServe and users to practice, or test, procedures and functionality on.
This is the main SchemeServe test environment, the data is usually a copy of the data from your live system, and is fixed at the time of the copy. The ‘Beta Environment’ will not reflect real time updates on your live system. Data changes, deletions or additions in the ‘Beta Environment’ will not be applied on the live system. The data in the ‘Beta Environment’ will be refreshed regularly.
Important Notes:– The ‘Beta Environment’ is not guaranteed to be a stable environment, or a tested environment.
– This environement comes with no warranties of any kind, and it is provided for your use “as is” and should be used at your own risk.
Accessing the Beta Environment
When you login to SchemeServe just change the URL in the address bar to include ‘-secondary’ after your main site name and then add /beta at the end.
So if your normal URL is https://acme.schemeserve.com you will need to change this to read https://acme.schemeserve-secondary.com/beta.
The ‘Beta Environment’ logo will be displayed on all pages, so that it is clear which environment you are working in.
