Re: Supporting a production environment

[rupesh]

I can't agree more with Abigail-II. Moreover, Production Environment being the most sensitive as well as the most critical.
I have been in the same situation before, and have realised that it is better to device your own plans other than postponing things because of insufficient privileges (like adminsterating, access levels etc.)
I'll let you know my thoughts ... and feel free to reply with any questions.
Here's my opinion:

1. Leave the development area alone. Let the developers do whatever they want to. That region is of least importance with respect to your external customers/clients
2. Have two test-bed environments (at least a minimum of one). One say 'User Acceptance' and the other 'Demo' (Pre-Production). The Demo should be exactly similiar (in terms of OS, Scripts, security levels etc.) to PROD.
3. Make sure your code goes to Prod ONLY if UA and Demo are fine. Otherwise, start all over again
4. Take a copy of your scripts in production to a location where only you (and whoever concerned) have access to - say 'prodbackup'. Update this directory every time there is a production move.
5. You might also want to consider comparing files in 'prodbackup' with the ones in prod, so as to maintain consistency in the files.

That's just the beginning. Once you have some kind of process in place, there are wonders you can do by enforcing procedures (in terms of automation) and reports.
All the best.

[jeb6kids]

Thanks for your many suggestions!

You're idea to maintain a prodbackup directory to preserve past working versions for recovery from human error is excellent.