Drupal is a very comprehensive content management system.  However, because it is comprehensive it has many settings and many pieces of information that comprise the Drupal system.  While that has little impact on day-to-day activities, it has created challenges for companies that wanted to move their Drupal site.  The Drupal Deploy module dramatically changes the mobility of a Drupal system.

Any Drupal administrators who need to copy a Drupal configuration from one server to another should run out and give the Drupal Deploy module a try.  This module module copies Drupal objects between servers and ensures that the data from server A will behave exactly the same on server B.

There are many potential uses for this module that open up your Drupal world:

• Unhappy with your web host - Now you can move from Godaddy to Bluehost or from Bluehost to hostmonster without losing all your existing Drupal work!
• Want to do some testing  - One of the limitations of open source software like Drupal has been that it is hard to setup a testing and staging environment.  With Drupal Deploy, you have options to do development in a “safe” environment and only move the work to you live site once the work is ready.  Not only can it push new content, it can also push updates to existing content.
• Working with outside developers - You can reduce your security risk and allow developers to work in their own enivronment.  Then, they use Drupal Deploy to migrate their finished product to your site.

To get an even better understanding of the Deploy Module, take a look at this video which shows Deploy in action.

If you are going to be managing multiple Drupal sites or large Drupal sites that need testing and mobility than you might enjoy this presentation introducing Drupal site deployment best practices which is from the Do It With Drupal conference.  While called an introduction - it is geared towards experienced administrators/developers who are new to Drupal.

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