What Happens While a Laboratory Is Being Created
Laboratory creation is a staged, restartable process; QCUL does substantially more than copy a Joomla directory.
Creation stages
| Stage | What QCUL is doing |
|---|---|
| Checking site | Preflight: storage, permissions, paths, database, and gate capability. |
| Copying site files | Production files are being copied into the private laboratory. |
| Copying site data | Joomla-prefixed production database tables are being copied to the isolated lab prefix. |
| Securing laboratory | Configuration, private gate, runtime marker, cookies, and identity protections are applied. |
| Disabling outgoing activity | Mail, Scheduled Tasks, Lazy Scheduler, copied sessions, and remember-me tokens are neutralized. |
Important isolation work
- Creates a 32-character public run ID and run-specific laboratory directory/database prefix.
- Preflights storage, permissions, capacity, database constraints, and private-gate capability.
- Copies site files while excluding cache/tmp/logs/QCUL private storage/existing lab roots.
- Copies Joomla-prefixed production database tables into an isolated prefix.
- Rewrites laboratory configuration for paths/prefix/secret/cookies/mail/offline/robots behavior.
- Generates/verifies the external gate, robots controls, lab marker, and runtime.
- Neutralizes mail, Scheduled Tasks, Lazy Scheduler, cloned sessions, and remember-me tokens.
Why it can take time
Large sites are processed in bounded browser-driven batches so one request does not attempt the entire copy. Progress is persisted between requests; closing the browser pauses after the current request rather than discarding completed work.
Safety check before update testing
Before relying on What Happens While a Laboratory Is Being Created, confirm the private copy still shows laboratory identity, its access gate works, and ordinary browsing stays inside the lab rather than silently using production. The cloned site contains production-derived data, so a laboratory that is not demonstrably isolated should be repaired or refreshed before any update rehearsal.
Community Discussion
Want to compare update-testing workflows, share practical tips, or discuss how you use this QCUL feature? Visit the QC Update Laboratory Community. For private support, bug reports, account-specific issues, or feature requests, use the QuantaCade support system.