📄 4.1 — Test Environments and CI/CD

Test Environments and CI/CD

How to use your test instance, request refreshes and understand our deployment model.

YOUR TEST INSTANCE

Every Linserv Cloud (Cloudworkz) customer has access to a dedicated Odoo TEST instance at no additional license cost.

Odoo.SH customers: Please refer to the Odoo.SH staging documentation for information on how to conduct tests on the SH platform.


WHAT CAN YOU DO IN TEST?

Your TEST instance is a copy of your production system. You can:

  • Test new configuration before applying it to production
  • Train users in a safe environment with real data
  • Experiment with Studio modifications
  • Test patches and updates before production deployment
  • Validate data imports before running them in production
  • Reproduce and diagnose issues reported by your users


SAFETY MEASURES

To prevent accidental impact on real business operations, the following are disabled or set to test mode in the TEST instance:

  • Outgoing email: Disabled or redirected
  • Incoming email: Disabled
  • Bank connections: Disabled
  • Selected automated jobs: Disabled or set to test mode
  • All other functionality: Active — identical to production (unless specified in your SLA)

HOW IS TEST CREATED AND REFRESHED?

  • Method: Restore from your most recent production backup.
  • Content: All setup, configuration and transactions from your production instance at the time of the backup.
  • Created by: A Linserv Consultant or Technician, on request.
  • Frequency: On demand — request a refresh whenever you need current data.
  • Added benefit: Each refresh validates your backup quality and restore process.

Important: 

This COPY process is designed to quickly create a SANDBOX/TEST instance.  We support multiple test instances where required

We do not copy data or configuration from TEST to PROD. Changes validated in TEST must be manually applied to production, scripted or deployed via our CI/CD process for code changes. 

You may use mass update tools or Excel import/export to transfer master data from TEST to PROD


ADDITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS

TEST — Purpose: Testing, training, validation — Availability: Included for all Cloudworkz customers

STAGING — Purpose: Patch and code deployment staging — Availability: Created automatically by CI/CD process

DEVELOPMENT — Purpose: Custom development and integration work — Availability: Available on request (resource charges apply)

In certain circumstances, we can provide additional TEST or DEVELOPMENT instances. You will be charged for the resources (CPU, RAM, storage) provisioned for these instances.


OUR CI/CD MODEL

We follow structured and documented CI/CD (Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment) processes for all application maintenance and development.

The flow is:

REQUIREMENTS — A requirement is created (generally by the customer)

DEVELOPMENT — A technical specification including use, UI/UX, master data requirements, test cases is prepared

DEVELOPMENT — Code and or changes are developed and tested by developer

STAGING — Code is tested and validated by consultant and customer

PRODUCTION — Code is deployed live by consultant with customer approval

Key principles:

  • CI/CD management is handled by Linserv
  • Git repository access available at no extra cost
  • Merge and deployment managed by Linserv (to ensure SLA)
  • All deployments require customer approval
  • Staging environment validates every change before production


WHY WE MANAGE CI/CD

We manage merge and deployment to ensure that all changes to your production environment are:

  • Tested against your specific configuration
  • Compatible with your custom code
  • Deployed in a controlled, documented manner
  • Compliant with your SLA requirements

You are welcome to access the Git repository at no extra cost for code review purposes. However, merging and deploying to production is managed by us.


ALTERNATIVE: ODOO.SH

Odoo.SH is an alternative environment for customers who want to manage CI/CD themselves. Migration to Odoo.SH is possible if desired.

We do not generally recommend a self-hosted server environment, but the decision is yours. Migration between Cloudworkz and Odoo.SH is straightforward (approximately 4 hours).

For a full comparison of hosting options, see Article 4.0 Choosing Your Odoo Infrastructure.