The PHP developers recently released versions 7.2.32, 7.3.20 and 7.4.8 that fix several bugs. We’ve upgraded the PHP 7.2, 7.3 and 7.4 series on our servers as a result.
These changes should not be noticeable, but as always, don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any trouble.
The PHP developers recently released versions 7.3.19 and 7.4.7 that fix several bugs. We’ve upgraded the PHP 7.3 and 7.4 series on our servers as a result.
These changes should not be noticeable, but as always, don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any trouble.
Update 9:16 PM June 27: the maintenance described below has been completed on all servers, so all servers are now running the MariaDB 10.3 series.
Over the next three weeks, we’ll be updating the MariaDB (MySQL) database server software on all our servers from the MariaDB 10.1 series to the MariaDB 10.3 series (equivalent to the Oracle MySQL 5.7 series).
The MariaDB/MySQL database software is what stores pages for WordPress and other sites that are run by scripts. Customers should not notice any difference after this change; we’re upgrading it to a more recent version simply to make sure it’s as fast, reliable and secure as possible. We’ve been using the new version on internal and test servers for some time.
At the moment the software is updated on a server, WordPress and other database-backed sites on that server will have 30-60 seconds of unavoidable “downtime”. To minimize the impact of that, we do these upgrades only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights between 9 PM and midnight Pacific time (midnight-3 AM Eastern time). This process will be complete on all servers by June 28.
Beyond that one-time brief interruption in service, customers should not notice any difference to how their site works, as we said. But as always, don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any trouble or questions.
The PHP developers recently released versions 7.2.31, 7.3.18 and 7.4.6 that fix several bugs. We’ve upgraded the PHP 7.2, 7.3 and 7.4 series on our servers as a result.
These changes should not be noticeable, but as always, don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any trouble.
The PHP developers recently released versions 7.2.30, 7.3.17 and 7.4.5 that fix several bugs. We’ve upgraded the PHP 7.2, 7.3 and 7.4 series on our servers as a result.
The PHP 7.4 series has also been out long enough that all modern script software should be compatible with it, and the authors of popular scripts like WordPress recommend using it. Because of that, we’re making PHP 7.4 the default for new customers (although they can choose an older version if necessary).
We haven’t changed the version for any existing accounts, but we recommend that all customers use PHP 7.4 if possible. PHP 7.4 is slightly faster than PHP 7.3 and more than twice as fast as PHP 5. If you care about your site’s speed (and you should), always use the newest version of PHP that’s compatible with your scripts. Our Why Update PHP? page explains more about PHP version updates.
The PHP developers recently released versions 7.2.29, 7.3.16 and 7.4.4 that fix several bugs. We’ve upgraded the PHP 7.2, 7.3 and 7.4 series on our servers as a result.
In addition, the authors of ionCube Loader and SourceGuardian Loader have made them available for the PHP 7.4 series, so our copy of PHP 7.4.4 now supports both of those.
These changes should not be noticeable, but as always, don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any trouble.
Update 10:58 PM Pacific time: the maintenance described below has been completed, and all services are running normally.
Between 9:00 PM and 11:59 PM Pacific time on Saturday, February 15, 2020, the MySQL database software on each of our servers will be upgraded from MariaDB version 10.0.41 to 10.0.44 (roughly equivalent to MySQL 5.6.47). This will cause an approximately 60 second interruption of service on each MySQL-using customer website at some point during this period.
This upgrade is necessary for security reasons and to fix bugs in MySQL.
In addition, the web14 server will be restarted during this period for a hardware upgrade, causing an approximately 3-minute additional outage for sites and email on that server only.
We apologize for the inconvenience this causes.
The PHP developers recently released versions 7.2.27, 7.3.14 and 7.4.2 that fix several bugs. We’ve upgraded the PHP 7.2, 7.3 and 7.4 series on our servers as a result.
These changes should not be noticeable, but as always, don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any trouble.
The PHP developers recently released versions 7.2.26, 7.3.13 and 7.4.1 that fix several bugs. We’ve upgraded the PHP 7.2, 7.3 and 7.4 series on our servers as a result.
These changes should not be noticeable, but as always, don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any trouble.
The PHP developers recently released a brand new version, PHP 7.4, so PHP 7.4.0 is now available in our control panel (in addition to the PHP 5.6, 7.0, 7.1, 7.2 and 7.3 series).
We don’t yet recommend PHP 7.4 for most customers. It’s fairly new and some third-party scripts aren’t yet compatible with it. If you want to try it anyway:
After updating, test your site carefully to make sure there aren’t any problems.
By the way, if all this seems confusing, we have a page explaining more about PHP versions and updates.
