[How To] Test your vBSEO installation before going live

This tip is great for new users who are afraid of installing this product and maybe not being happy with the configuration they chose. I was afraid too because Google crawls my site every second and a small mistake on my vBSEO settings could affect my traffic. It is well known that a lot of the vBSEO settings are set and forget, so I didn't take this task lightly

This is why I decided to install vBSEO only for myself while keeping the product disabled for the rest of my registered users and visitors. By doing so, I had a chance to play with vBSEO (specially the rewrite options) and see how it affected my site's url structure without breaking something.


Please note that I am not responsible for anything wrong you make to your site. I'm just sharing my experience of testing vBSEO on a live environment without risking my whole site.


Requirements

You need vBSEO 3.5 (I have not tested this with previous versions)

Instructions

Before you begin your vBSEO installation you should edit two files. Uncompress your vBSEO 3.5 package and open the file upload\vbseo\includes\functions_vbseo_pre.php.

Search

PHP Code:

return VBSEO_ROOT . '/resources/xml/config.xml'; 


And replace with

PHP Code:

return VBSEO_ROOT . '/resources/xml/config.xml' . ($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] == '127.0.0.1' ? '.test' : ''); 


Make sure you replace 127.0.0.1 with your own IP address. Go to http://www.whatismyip.com if you don't know your current IP Address. Save the functions_vbseo_pre.php file.

Now open the file upload\vbseo\resources\xml\config.xml

Search

HTML Code:

<name>VBSEO_ENABLED</name>
<value>1</value>

And replace with

HTML Code:

<name>VBSEO_ENABLED</name>
<value>0</value>

Save the config.xml file.

Now make a copy of the upload\vbseo\resources\xml\config.xml file and rename it to config.xml.test. Now you should have two edited files (functions_vbseo_pre.php and config.xml) and two copies of config.xml in place (config.xml and config.xml.test).

Go on with the vBSEO installation and complete all the steps. Don't worry. We've already disabled the vBSEO plugin from the config.xml file so it shouldn't be a problem. However, keep an eye on your forums and if, for any reason, you see your URLs rewrote go to your vBulletin AdminCP, disable the vBSEO product and check all the previous steps.

Make sure to CHMOD 666 the config.xml file along with its copy, the config.xml.test file.

Now, what we did was to use a different config file for your IP address (config.xml.test) while everyone else uses the original config.xml. The config.xml file is configured to disable vBSEO so the plugin won't be active for all your visitors and now you can go to the vBSEO Control Panel, activate the plugin and start playing with all the options. Everything you do from the IP Address you typed on the functions_vbseo_pre.php will use the config.xml.test while the rest of the internet uses the original config.xml file.

After enabling vBSEO using the config.xml.test file, go to a proxy service and check if your site is still using normal URLs. If your URLs are rewrote you need to disable the vBSEO product in your vBulletin Admin CP and check all the previous steps.


Once you are happy with your configuration, just replace the config.xml file with the config.xml.test file and reupload the original functions_vbseo_pre.php file and you're good to go.

I hope this little tip helps you to better setup your vBSEO installation without risking your traffic!

PD: I'm sorry for my bad english and if you have any corrections, please let me know and I will update the HowTo.

Note: We offer a test license free of charge with all paid licenses. If you have a dev area, such as dev.yourdomain.com, you may open a ticket requesting one. We always suggest installing to a test area first for not only vbseo, but any mod or upgrade you may do.

Otherwise, thanks for the how-to. May save a few some trouble

Thanks for this How-To, thats what I was searching for

I changed it a bit to have it easier switching between live and test view.
This works with your userid instead of your IP so you can have diffrent browsers open and switch between live and test without proxy.

PHP Code:

return VBSEO_ROOT . '/resources/xml/config.xml' . ($_COOKIE["bbuserid"] == '1' ? '.test' : ''); 


Would be nice when something similar like this will get a feature in next vbseo releases, with vb usergroups or username.