Tips to Help You Prepare Your Website for a PHP Upgrade.

Businesses and organizations rely heavily on their websites to do some heavy lifting when it comes to funneling customers and clients towards closed business.

I've spoken to a number of businesses and organizations about PHP upgrades this year. Most of the time I'm met with blank stares or vague understanding. Business owners know they need a website, but don't necessarily know everything that goes into the back-end of a website. If you end up behind on a PHP upgrade, you could be putting your website's security at risk - and that's bad for business!

Not all businesses are fortunate enough to have someone on staff who understands these things. So for those of us who need to put on our developer hat to conquor today's to-do list, here are my tips to help you prepare your website for a PHP upgrade!

(Quick Note!): This guide is intended for basic merchant, widget-based, or simplistic websites where there is not a lot of custom code. If you're running a website that is far more complex, or has a dense framework of custom code, we recommend consulting with your developer. If you are unsure as to what kind of website you have, reach out to us!

Background: What is PHP, and why do I need to upgrade it?

PHP is an open-source scripting language that lives in the hosting environment that powers your website. It's not something you're going to run into when you work with Elementor or Divi Builder within WordPress itself. It's the fundamental language that WordPress web developers (among others) use to make things run on the server side. Because PHP is a coding language, it is part of the fabric that weaves your plugins and website together on the back-end. Indeed, every plugin you install will (or should) tell you what version of PHP it is compatible with, usually in a range.

Note: PHP does not apply to Wix, Squarespace, or Shopify.

From time to time, PHP as a language gets a little upgrade. As PHP grows to newer and newer versions, plugins and websites grow and adapt to meet those changes and run smoothly. When plugins don't run properly, get outdated, or stop receiving support, it creates an opportunity for cybercriminals to get into your website and cause all sorts of havoc! So just like you need to keep your plugins updated for your overall site health, you also need to keep your PHP updated. Only, unlike a plugin, updating you PHP is like updating the entire fabric of your website - and without proper considerations, a PHP upgrade can indeed break your website. (Yikes!)

So let's avoid that! Below are some tips to help you have a seamless upgrade, and avoid the headache and horror that comes with a downed website. Rambow Consulting Group has performed PHP upgrades before for businesses and organizations in Red Deer and across Alberta. These tips are tried and true, and will help you navigate what can feel like a confusing (and daunting) task!

Tip 1 - Make sure your website's plugins and themes are all up to date.

This is standard operating procedure for website maintenance people. Keeping plugins and themes updated is a logical step in keeping your website running smoothly and keeping it secure. Attempting to upgrade to a newer PHP version without updating all of your plugins and themes is a recipe for headache if the upgrade goes poorly. This is also a great time to audit your plugins and themes, and delete any inactive/deactivate plugins and themes from your website.

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Tip 2 - Review your plugin and theme compatibility.

Depending on how you approach this step, this can either go quickly or be a little more time consuming. I'll start by saying for most websites, your plugins and themes are very likely 100% compatible already. Reputable plugin and theme developers are always keeping up with PHP versions, and do their own testing to save you the hassle. That being said, there are always exceptions to the rule!

You can use a compatibility checker plugin, although in our experience this doesn't necessarily prove to be 100% effective. You can also review your list of plugins and check each one separately. Some plugins (like many WP developed ones) don't necessarily display the PHP compatibility in the info panel, but will list them on their own developer pages and patch notes. Others will list the minimum PHP required, and not necessarily a range. Finally, some will list their compatibility ranging from one version to another. It's important to try and review what the recommended PHP is for your plugins as well. As long as you are updating to within the parameters set out by the plugins and themes, (i.e. those plugins support the new PHP version), you're A-OK!

If you have concerns with plugins or themes, reach out to the developers directly or look for a developer FAQ to see if other companies have experienced issues with the plugins.

Tip 3 - Create a full website backup from your host site.

As with any major change you want to make, it's smart to create a full site backup prior to starting down that road. We always recommend having 2-3 full site backups available for emergencies. Save these backups either on a cloud-based storage system, on a physical disc, or both. Generally, web hosts don't want you to store large fiels on their host sites because it eats up space.

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Optional step: Run through the upgrade in a test environment.

If you're not using a Hosting Control Panel (cPanel, etc), you might be manually configuring your web server. In this case, it may be a good idea to create a test environment for your website, and upgrading the PHP there to see how the website performs in the test environment. This is beyond the scope of most plug-and-play merchant websites. There are many guides online for running test environments for websites and looking through code, and we recommend looking deeper into those guides. We should note that even if you are using a hosting cPanel, you can still stage a test environment, but for most basic websites this is not necessary.

PHP Version Switching.

If your website is only one or two PHP versions behind, and you're doing the update from a host panel, then it's more than likely that your host has a PHP version switcher. The nice thing about a PHP Version Switcher is that you can seamlessly switch your PHP version back and forth if there are issues. Obviously, if you successfully upgrade to a newer (or the latest) PHP version, we recommend staying there unless your website experiences a bunch of issues. Ultimately, keeping your website's hosting on an outdated PHP is a risk to your security, and is not a long-term solution. But, if you upgrade and there are issues, you can switch back to the older version (provided it is still supported...). It's not guaranteed that rolling back will undo changes in some of the app data, but it is generally safe. And if all else fails, you have that handy-dandy backup!

Keep in mind, however, that some hosts remove old versions of PHP without warning. It's important to know which version you are on, which version you are moving to, and what the End-of-Life (EOL) of each version is. This will help you plan, and stay in the clear when making future upgrades.

Ensuring that your website works before and after a PHP upgrade is just part of what Rambow Consulting Group offers as part of our website maintenance service. Rambow Consulting Group offers many website services, including maintenance and content updates, as well as PHP upgrades on most websites! If you would like to book a free consultation to talk about your website needs, reach out today!