The default azure install come with preconfigured master, web and core database. We need to replicate these for the staging environment, in order to be completely separate from production environment.

Azure facilitate database replication. It is up to your team to use the right tool to replicate the databases. I recommend Azure portal.

We went through these steps to get to milestones that can facilitate our deployment. App Key Settings is a big Milestone. Azure is capable to switch the value of the predefined key settings depending on the environment and the deployment slot running it.

Add Key Values in web Config Locally.

Each environment should output different value for the selected key. For a simple test, we will focus on the sample layout.aspx that should be the defaulted layout that sitecore have installed.

Install and run empty sitecore instance in your local machine.We will use FileZilla to download the entire solution To Temp Folder. Then, copy and Paste and Override into the intepub instance

All we are doing in this example is outputting the Key value. Of course, if you project is MVC, you can use a similar technique.

Build and publish your project using your local publishing profile. You should not have any problem since we are only modifying existing item. If you have problem at this point, go back to Step 1 and Follow the preceding steps.

Now comes the fun part. To change the value of the setting for qa environment should take around 2 minutes. Go back to Azure Portal, Add the key setting to QA-CM Slot and save changes.

If you migrate to qa site, the changes are there immediately. You can see now the power of Sitecore Azure.

To complete the demo, follow the same steps for QA Key Setting. However, this time choose the production deployment slot, not the qa deployment slot.

To complete the demo, follow the same steps for QA Key Setting. However, this time choose the production deployment slot, not the qa deployment slot.