Resources

Hosting a site on Cloud Platform

Important

End of Support notice! Acquia has stopped support for Dev Desktop on June 30, 2021. Acquia recommends that you transition to Cloud IDE for a managed development environment on Cloud Platform. For more information, see Migrating from Dev Desktop to Cloud IDE.

Acquia also provides limited integration with open source alternatives to Cloud IDE for local development. For more information, see Local development solutions.

After creating a local website in Acquia Dev Desktop, you can host it on Cloud Platform. Acquia Dev Desktop is integrated with Cloud Platform, and allows you to develop your website locally and synchronize it with the versions on Cloud Platform. With Acquia Dev Desktop, you can push and pull your code, database, and files in a way that makes the most sense for your workflow.

To host a local Acquia Dev Desktop website on Cloud Platform:

  1. Select the local website you want to host on Cloud Platform.

  2. Click Host this site on Acquia Cloud.

  3. If you have already linked your installation of Acquia Dev Desktop to an Cloud Platform account, skip to Adding a website to an existing Cloud Platform subscription.

  4. If you already have a Cloud Platform subscription, enter the email address and Cloud Platform password, and click Log in.

  5. If you don’t have a Cloud Platform subscription, click the Get one for free link.

For more information about what happens when you click Host this site on Acquia Cloud, see How Acquia Dev Desktop works with Cloud Platform.

Adding a website to an existing Cloud Platform subscription

  1. If you have access to more than one Cloud Platform subscription, select the subscription you want to add the website to. By default, Acquia Dev Desktop hides subscriptions from which you’ve already cloned an environment.

  2. Select the environment to overwrite. A Cloud Platform application has three environments: Development, Staging, and Production. A Cloud Platform Free website has two environments: Development and Staging. Usually, you should select the Development environment to overwrite.

  3. Enter the location of your private key file, and click OK. If you have already connected from Acquia Dev Desktop to Cloud Platform, Acquia Dev Desktop skips this step.

    Communication with your Cloud Platform application is protected with a private/public key pair. You also need the right role and permissions to sync Acquia Dev Desktop with Cloud Platform. For more information, see Acquia Cloud credentials and permissions.

Acquia Dev Desktop creates a Drupal site archive and imports the archive into Cloud Platform. After Acquia Dev Desktop finishes importing the archive, click Close.

Your website now exists in two locations: locally on your computer in Acquia Dev Desktop, and on Cloud Platform. You can now work on your website locally and continuously sync it with the version of your application on Cloud Platform. For more information, see Working with sites on Acquia Cloud.