Introduction
In Drupal development, managing configurations is a crucial aspect to ensure consistency across different environments, such as development, staging, and production. Drupal provides a powerful Configuration Management system that allows developers to export, import, and synchronize configurations between instances. However, when dealing with different environments, there may be specific settings or configurations that need to be excluded or overridden.
This is where the “drupal config split” module comes into play. In this article, we will take a deep dive into how this module works, how to use it, and its benefits in managing configurations in Drupal.
What is Drupal Config Split?
The “drupal config split” module is a contributed module available for Drupal 8 and Drupal 9 that extends the core Configuration Management system. It allows developers to split configuration files into specific groups based on the target environment, such as development, staging, and production.
With “drupal config split,” you can override or exclude specific configurations for each environment, ensuring that the right settings are applied in the appropriate context. This makes it easier to manage configurations across different environments and avoid unexpected behavior due to incorrect settings being imported.
How does Drupal Config Split work?
The module creates a new folder within the configuration folder where Drupal stores the exported configuration files. This new folder, called “config_split,” contains YAML files that define the configuration splits for different environments.
Each YAML file represents a configuration split and contains a list of configuration objects to include or exclude for a specific environment. For example, you can have a “development.split.yml” file that includes additional debugging settings only for the development environment.
Here’s an example of a “development.split.yml” file:
In this example, the “development.split.yml” file includes the “devel” and “webprofiler” modules, as well as the “system.performance,” “views.view.frontpage,” and “views.view.news” configurations.
When you run the configuration import, “drupal config split” reads the active configuration split based on the environment and overrides or excludes the configurations defined in the split file. This ensures that the appropriate configurations are applied for each environment.
Using Drupal Config Split
To use “drupal config split,” you need to follow these steps:
1. Install and enable the “drupal config split” module using Composer or manually downloading it from Drupal.org.
2. Create a new folder called “config_split” within the configuration folder of your Drupal instance. The configuration folder is typically located at “sites/default/files/config_[hash]/sync” or “sites/default/sync” depending on your setup.
3. Create a YAML file for each configuration split you need. The file name should match the environment, followed by “.split.yml.” For example, “development.split.yml” for the development environment.
4. In each split file, define the configurations to include/exclude for the specific environment. Follow the YAML syntax and use the appropriate keys to specify modules or configuration objects.
5. Run the configuration import/export commands as usual. When importing configurations, “drupal config split” will read the active split file and apply the necessary overrides or exclusions.
Benefits of Drupal Config Split
Using the “drupal config split” module brings several benefits for managing configurations in Drupal:
1. Improved flexibility:
With config splitting, you can have different sets of configurations for each environment. This gives you the flexibility to customize settings based on the specific needs of each environment.
2. Enhanced security:
By excluding sensitive configurations from certain environments, you can improve the security posture of your Drupal instances. For example, you can exclude API keys or database credentials from the development environment.
3. Reduced human error:
Config splitting reduces the risk of human error when managing configurations. By defining the configurations for each environment in separate files, it becomes less prone to accidental misconfigurations.
4. Simplified deployment:
With config splitting, you can easily deploy configurations between environments without worrying about environment-specific settings. This speeds up the deployment process and reduces the chances of issues caused by inconsistent configurations.
Conclusion
Configurations management is a critical aspect of Drupal development, and the “drupal config split” module helps streamline this process by allowing developers to split configurations based on different environments. This module provides flexibility, security, and reduces the risk of human error when managing configurations across different instances.
By following the steps outlined in this article, you can easily get started with “drupal config split” and take control over your Drupal configurations in a more organized and efficient way. So, give it a try and experience the benefits of config splitting in Drupal. Additionally, integrating Consul Cluster with Drupal can further enhance your configuration management capabilities, providing a centralized solution for service discovery, configuration sharing, and dynamic updates. With Consul’s powerful features combined with Drupal’s flexibility, you can achieve a highly scalable and resilient architecture for your web applications.