Best setup for test and live site on same server?

I have my live site set up on a remote hosted linux server. I'd like to take that site and create an identical one for testing. How could I set it up so my test site would be something like https://www.xyz.com/test where my live site it https://www.xyz.com? And then how could I move over the test site to the live site relatively easily?

Is there a better way to do this than what I describe?

Thanks for any help!

Sally

You can do it exactly as you described. If you want to leave the test cart in place to play with after you go live, you can. Basically, you'll have to move EVERYTHING from the /test folder into the root and then edit the two config files. If you want to continue to play in /test, I suggest you keep two databases (one live and one test).

Can I just copy everything from the live site to the test folder to get the test site started or does this require another installation of Zencart? I do want to keep the data separate so this means a separate Zencart install or is there another way to do this?

Thx!

Sally

To have a mirror copy, you would need to download existing store,
via ftp, and reupload to new store...database..copy existing, then create new database for 2nd site..change username and password and database name, in config files reflecting duplicate database..
If you have two stores, even though the same, you will need two seperate databases..otherwise,
every time you update one store, you will also be updating the other..

Misty's right. You can create a duplicate store following her directions. You can copy your live database to the test database from your webmaster panel (basically back up the live one and then restore it to the test). Restoring the live database will duplicate the live admin password to the test store, but that's probably not an issue.

You could also create the folder and a database and then install the latest version of Zen Cart in the folder (assuming your live site is on the lastest version) and proceed from there with database copy. You can then upload your custom template to the test environment.