Working with a freelancer, and trying to use a test subdomain

how exactly does this work / is it practical?

[javahava]

hi there,

am a relative hack at this stuff, so forgive any stupid questions. i'm working with a new freelancer on an already established site, but don't want to give him access to all files / content in the main folder. so i thought i'd set up a test subdomain for him. can he access the regular mysql database through this subdomain (i.e., make calls to it, insert data into it, etc.)? do i then just pass along the files he needs to edit, and he uploads just that file to the test subdomain (i'll then copy over to the main folder when it's complete)? is this too impractical if he needs to work with the database and content (e.g., pictures) in the main folder?

Any other ideas / suggestions for working with new freelancers and wanting to protect content?

[killroy]

this should be the procedure in any professional environment. You have a staging server and a production server. This will also help in case of failure on the production server as you have a second working copy.

But you should also set up a second database, since data corruption is an even liklier scenario with development work.

SN

[jorj]

killroy,

I want to have a mirror server for my main one too and I would be happy to know what (software) solution do I have taking into account that I'm using a remote hosting solution (where I have no access to mount hardware)?

I have a backup running, but mirroring should be more, like taking the place of the main server in case of a failure.

Thx