Best practice while moving Sitecore packages from UAT to Prod Server

Question

What are the best practice we should follow when we are moving a UAT site package to Prod Server.

• Do we need to crate a package of whole website of Prod before uploding the UAT Pkg item

• Master and web DB backup

• Serialize the item and keep it

Answer 1

When you say package, I am assuming you mean a Sitecore package ending in .update. If you mean a zip file from the Sitecore Package Designer, then option two below isn't valid.

You always want to have some way of getting back to pre-deployment is something goes wrong.

Full backup (this is what I do in production)

Your 1st option is to just back up the website files. That is if you update package has files being deployed and not just Sitecore items. Also do a SQL backup of the core, master and web databases. I never go into production without having a plan to rollback. As long as I have access to SQL console and the web file system, this is the most reliable approach.

Rollback package

@Jammykam wrote a great article on how an update package installations create a rollback package when they are installed. You can use Sitecore Powershell to rollback your install if something happens during the update. This is a good option in lower environments, and possibly production if your environment is well backed up.

Create an anti-package when you create your package

An additional option is to create an anti-package of your package before you install it. This will create a package you can use to roll your install back in case it fails. This is similar to option 2, but you have the package ahead of time and don't need to rely on the rollback being processed on the server.

Summary

Your backup approach can change based on if you are installing just Sitecore items or you are installing items and files. But you always want to have some way to get back if the install goes wrong.

If you are using a Package Designer installation, zip file, then your options are limited for rollback. You only have options 1 and 3. So take care in your planning and test your rollback plans in an alternate environment before you trust them in production.