Syncing live and test product databases

[b2tech]

Hello,

I have a production and test site Running Shopsite 8.3.

Over time my production product database has became out of sync with my test product database.

For my setup, I need to have identical product databases on the live and test site (matching SSIDs for each product).

My goal is put have all existing products on the live site replicated to the test site (including matching SSIDs).
*edit* -- And keep my test database configuration / settings*

I tried doing a Download of the live products and Uploading them to the test site. The import completed successfully but it appears extra products were added.

So, is there a file location / path for the 'products' database that I could simply copy a 'products' database file from the live site to the test site?
Or is there another approach?

Thanks for any suggestions / direction!

[ShopSite Lauren]

I'm not sure if you can assign the ShopSite product id numbers, those are assigned generically every time you add a new product. Can I ask why you need the SSIDs to be the same? It would be better to map products using the product name, or even better a product SKU because those are not generically assigned, they are assigned manually. If you are using the SSIDs as a SKU type function, I would suggest to take your full/complete database, change the "Product ID" field to "SKU" and upload that database in both stores.

[b2tech]

The reason we need matching SSIDs is there's a custom 'front end' product database and that relies on the ssid to associate products in the shop
site database with products in our 'front end' database.
We are using variable skus passed from the front end database to the cart.

We could consider changing the way the system works and using a name field instead of product id.

Thanks for the input.