I'm building out a test server and already have a production server running. I'm considering replicating the production content over to test using rsync.

I understand I'll need to handle the database contents differently. I also know that I'll need to maintain a slightly different mediawiki configuration on test than I have in production.

Is this an advisable approach? If so, what are the particular files I should exclude during the sync process? Are there any gotchas I should be watching out for?

Thanks in advance for your time and suggestions.