Configure environments

Environments and branches

Every Magento Commerce (Cloud) project starts with a master environment that corresponds to the master branch in Git. Each environment has an associated active Git branch of code.

• For Pro, we recommend branching from Integration.
• For Starter, we recommend creating a staging branch, then creating additional code branches from staging.

We recommend using GitHub for maintaining your code branches.

You can create branches using the Project Web Interface or Git CLI commands. For this information, examples use Git or Magento Cloud CLI commands.

Active and inactive branches

You have access to a limited number of active Git branches per plan. When you push this branch, an active environment is provisioned as a container, updating when you push per the configurations of .magento.app.yaml, services.yaml, and routes.yaml.

You begin by creating active branches and pushing code. You can use the following command to create an active branch from a parent branch:

magento-cloud environment:branch

You have unlimited inactive Git branches. These branches do not receive an environment until it is made active. You can use the following command to activate an inactive branch:

magento-cloud environment:activate

When you activate an inactive branch, or create a new active branch, the command deploys a new active environment with a web server and services.

Branch hierarchy, development, and deployment

For Starter and Pro plans, the master environment is ultimately the source or parent for all code in Magento Commerce (Cloud).

• For Starter, master is your Production environment and branch. You create branches from master as your Integration environment.
• For Pro, you have a master branch in Integration for creating your code branches. You deploy this branch to a matching master branch in Staging and Production environments.

Your Integration includes a number of branches and environments available to you per plan. When you branch from master, you create a child relationship to this parent. Every branching creates a parent-child relationship. Each child environment can synchronize code, data, or both from its parent. Syncing data to an environment results in a byte-for-byte copy of all services and media files.

You fully develop in these branches. When ready, you push the code to build and deploy to an Integration enviornment. In these Integration environments, you can test custom code, extensions, third party integrations, and more. When ready, you merge this child Integration branch up to a parent. When merged, the parent environment redeploys with the code changes of the child environment. For Pro, this is the Integration master. For Starter, it is an environment and branch of your choice.

For extensive details, see the following:

• Starter:

  • Starter architecture
  • Starter develop and deploy workflow

• Pro:

  • Pro architecture
  • Pro develop and deploy workflow

• Deployment process

Environment services

Your cloud environments for Starter and Pro configure the available and used database, web server, caching, and services per the settings entered for a series of YAML files. When you push Git code from your local, these services and more configure automatically in the environments hosted in the cloud (PaaS). For Pro Staging and Production environments (IaaS), you need to enter a ticket for those files to be migrated to configure those environment services and more. See Configure your environments.

Additional services and drivers are automatically included in your environments.

SQL Server extension driver

We include updated Microsoft PHP drivers for MS SQL Server extension to enable connecting between Magento Commerce (Cloud) and off cloud MS SQL Servers. No additional installation is necessary to use these drivers. You will need to complete a couple configurations before using the connection and external SQL.

These drivers are included in all Starter environments and Pro Integration environments. To enable in Pro plan Staging and Production environments, please enter a Support ticket with the request. You need to configure and provide the following:

• SSL certificate on the MS SQL Server: The connection between the cloud cluster and the remote SQL server must be SSL secured. Customers must provide an SSL-enabled connection to their MS SQL server in order to connect to their project.
• An MS SQL Server for testing: Please include a Microsoft SQL server for us to test the connection. Include this information in a Support ticket.

If you have questions regarding connectivity or configuration for MS SQL Server, enter a Support ticket.

Configure your environments

After fully configuring your store, you should configure your environments. This includes specific files to manage builds, deployments, services, and routes. These settings may also affect your builds and deployments. The following information provides files, settings, and options for configuring services and settings in environments.

For Starter, you can push these files across all environments including Production master.

For Pro, you need to enter a ticket to have these files and settings pushed to Staging and Production environments. You can push these files and settings across all Integration environments.

• .magento.app.yaml configures how the Magento application is built and deployed including services, hooks, cron jobs, and more

• services.yaml configures the services you use in your stores and sites including name, version, and allocated disk space

  • MySQL service configuration for the database set in services.yaml
  • Redis service configuration for a backend caching solution set in services.yaml
  • Solr service configuration for search engines supported for Magento Commerce 2.0 set in services.yaml
  • Elasticsearch service configuration for searches supported for Magento Commerce 2.1 and later set in services.yaml
  • RabbitMQ configuration for a messaging broker set in services.yaml

• routes.yaml configures how Magento processes an incoming URL for your Integration environment

  • Caching configuration options for caches set in routes.yaml
  • Redirect configuration and rules for managing redirections set in routes.yaml
  • Server side includes configured set in routes.yaml