PHP Developers Network

I am new to PHP, so I am confused - what is recommended deployment strategy and recommended tools?
In orther words - lets say i am deploying next version of my application and I want to run some tests on that version.
What are recommended tools for running tests to verify code operabilty and functionality ? (say, something like Hudson server or Maven)

Thank you in advance.

I recommend that you get hold of Matt Zandstra's book 'PHP Objects, Patterns and Practice'. Lots of good stuff in there including: Chapter 19 - 'Automated Build with Phing'.

There are several different strategies that have to do with the background of the programmer / company – its size and many more. In the company I am working these days (that is not a very big one) we selected a 3 steps strategy. A local servers for alpha test , a server that is the same with the production (almost a mirror of it) for beta and after that step for golden release and of course production. To be honest there are few times when a project is deployed directly to the production server for beta and golden release steps, this shouldn’t be happened but it does.

Having working in a stricter environment I tend to agree that the security of the server, the app and the data there are more important than to make something faster. But in real life, some times, things aren’t ideal.