To be able to perform tests on PrestaShop without impacting your online site, it is often advisable to install a local store, that is to say hosted on your own computer. However, this means that this test store is not online, and is only accessible via your machine.

This summarizes why PrestaShop technical support cannot intervene on your store called on a "local environment". The items below give you more details about how this works.

What is the definition and use of a "local environment"?

A local environment (also called local space) of a website is a version of the site in the design phase that allows developers to design it more effectively. It is often hosted directly on its own machine or on a server that is not accessible from outside, a local server. A workspace that can access resources available on the Internet, but which on the other hand cannot be accessed via the Internet. It is designed for site development or for internal use in the company. It is not necessarily necessary to have a site accessible to the whole world according to the needs of companies. The "local" is an internal resource, at home, protected from the outside and not accessible by others.

What environment is ideal for installing PrestaShop?

The basic PrestaShop software is under an open source license (specifically theOpen Software License 3.0 or OSL-3.0, written in English). This means that everyone can download this open source version freely and install it on their own server, whether it is local or not. If an environment allows a database server and a web server to run, PrestaShop can be installed there. You can check this article to learn more about how to install PrestaShop locally.

To go even further and create a functional online PrestaShop store, a more complex environment may be necessary. To be as complete as possible, it is recommended to set up:

1. A local server for site design.
2. A developer server, to test the features developed locally. It is a space close to a copy of the production site. The development server often contains several developments in parallel but under server conditions similar to the production site.
3. A pre-production server that will be a true copy of the production space will be used to specifically validate the functionality tested on the development space that is ready to be put online. This server will ensure that this feature, alone, will not cause any problems on the final site.
4. A production server that will be the final site, the one accessible by your customers, used daily by you and which will allow you to receive your payment transactions and process your orders.

These steps are not necessarily all indispensable, but they help to preserve the integrity of your final site.

What environment can PrestaShop Technical Support help me with?

As part of the services offered by PrestaShop technical support, a local server will not allow us to properly assist you. This is an environment that is not accessible from the outside, it is not possible to access it for a remote diagnosis.

However, the problems that can occur when installing PrestaShop, regardless of the environment, are rarely solvable without access to the store and its back office.

In order to be able to assist you, we will need to have access to an online environment: a development, pre-production or production server. These accesses are provided by the host that hosts your store. To learn more about how to get these access: Where to find the necessary information for technical support

⚠️ This article has been translated by an automatic translation program.