Upgrading a large Elgg 1.5 community

Hi friends. I'm planning to update a large Elgg implementation, still in v1.5 (!), in a couple of months. I was looking here for the right path for doing that but no luck. Maybe someone could points me where I can get that info, if it exists.

Not sure if I should upgrade sequentially from 1.5 to 1.6 and so on, or I can upgrade it right to 1.8. In anyway, I'm sure it will not be a piece of cake :)

Have a nice day
morgar

  • Wow...1.5!!

    Theoretically you can install 1.8 over top of 1.5, hit upgrade, and it will just work. I don't know anyone who has tried that, though. Do you have a test site set up? If not, that's the first thing to do. Follow the docs for duplicating an installation and set up a test site. Then, back up the test site (so you can try again if it fails), upgrade it directly to 1.8, and see what happens.

    This is generally a good procedure, so I recommend doing this for every release regardless of version.

  • @Brett:
    Me too ! FBFK has been @ 1.5 since early 2009 and
    thought we've thought and discussed about upgrading ++
    just never have had the time to stop and breathe and go for it.
    Main problem though will be the oodles of older PlugIns that the Kids will kill us
    if we lose any of those... I'm planning -- (1) upgrade on XAMPP, (2) patch PlugIns,
    (3) upgrade on Test Server with PlugIns patched;
    cross fingers, say prayers and (4) upgrade Prod ! 
    LOLZ ;-P.. what's the worst that could happen ?

  • Hi Brett, thanks for your answer.

    Yes, I have a full "twin" site for testing. My main concern is the DB conversion. If I remember right, in some upgrade the DB gets a format change. This site has 70K users and, for example, the metadata table has 1 million records. Do you think it will work? :)

    (sorry about my english)

  • Hey friend @DhrupDeScoop! Long time no see you. It seems that we are in the same boat :)

    I never had the time for upgrade it either, but now I think it's the time. We are mainly using the core plugins, but our problem is almost all views were rewrote from scratch, so I thing I will have to do it again.

  • @morgar - There have been multiple database and data storage changes. My best advice is to try it on your test site and see what happens.

  • To upgrade, or not to upgrade, that is the question:
    Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
    The slings and arrows of outrageous programming,
    Or to take arms against a sea of upgrades,
    And by opposing end them? To die, to sleep,
    No more; and by a sleep to say we end
    The heart-ache, and the thousand plugin shocks....

  • @jededitor you are absolutely right :)

    We wouldn't need to upgrade because the site is working great, and about security flaws in previous versions don't affect us because we aren't using the Elgg authentication and authorization, but I'm planning to extend the features of the site, so I think it's the time for an update.

  • The security flaws concern more than just authentication and authorization. Unless you fully trust all your users and all users of the network your site is exposed to, it's always a good idea to upgrade to the latest version for the most recent bug and security fixes.

  • @Carlos:
    He is right ;)
    If you go back thru the Elgg Releases' Notes;
    only find a simple reference to 'security fixes' --
    with no details of what the security holes were that got fixed
    ( makes us more secure ).
    These usually may have been XSS fixes - investigated and reported
    by " those who research " this aspect ;)
    And so... " always a good idea " is a good idea.. ;-P

  • Yes, you are bpth right, maybe I oversimplify my expression. I understand there are a lot of different risks in not keeping the scripts updated, not only in the topics I mentioned. Our implementation is highly customized, so we delayed the upgrades because it will surely require lot of rewriting, but ok, this seems to be the right moment :)

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