Deploy: Move Drupal content from server to server in real time

The typical enterprise-grade publishing model for web sites typically has two or three tiers. Content is created and edited on a staging server, where it is carefully reviewed before publishing it to the live server. Additional development may even happen on a third ("development") server.

Drupal was not built with this sort of deployment environment in mind. Instead, the background assumption with Drupal has been that content will be created on the live server.

To work around this problem, heyrocker has written the Deploy module for Drupal. This module takes care of all of the dependency checking and consistency logic that must take place. It allows an editor to build up a deployment plan, and then publish all necessary data to the live server in one batch. (Of course, it can also push an entire site from one server to another.) It even allows reverse synchronization. Comments, for example, can be pushed back from the frontline server onto staging for moderation.

Lullabot has a short podcast inteviewing heyrocker on the Deploy module. Heyrocker has also posted a blog explaining Deploy.

Updated Added the video and the link to the blog.