Upgrading to PHP 5.3
As described in a previous blog post, we’re removing the obsolete PHP version 5.2 from our servers. Our customers should only be using the newer PHP 5.3 series.
This process goes more smoothly when customers use our “My Account” control panel to switch to PHP 5.3 themselves. Although it rarely causes problems, it’s wise to check your site after making any change. Doing it yourself gives you a chance to test your site afterward to make sure that everything still works properly.
If you’re one of our Web hosting customers still using PHP 5.2, you’ll soon receive a notice asking you to upgrade.
What do I need to do?
First of all, make sure you’ve already upgraded to the latest version of any PHP scripts you use on your site. The current version of any script should be completely compatible with PHP 5.3. (Keeping your scripts updated is a good idea for other reasons, too, of course.)
Then:
- Login to the “My Account” control panel.
- Click PHP Settings.
- Choose the Use PHP 5.3.17 option.
- Click Save Settings.
(The “Use FastCGI” and “Use eAccelerator” options should also normally be checked when you choose PHP 5.3.) After doing this, test your site and make sure it still works as you expect. If it does, you’re finished.
What if I see a problem?
If you see a problem, you can return to the control panel and temporarily choose PHP version 5.2.6 again. But that’s only a temporary fix: pretty soon, PHP 5.2.6 won’t be available at all, so you need to resolve it right away.
As we mentioned above, almost all of the problems we hear of are due to the use of long-outdated scripts. Updating your scripts will probably solve things.
If you can’t solve it, you can contact us so we can point you in the right direction to get the issue resolved.
What if I don’t upgrade?
If you don’t switch to PHP 5.3 yourself, we’ll automatically do it for you about six weeks after we send the initial notice. (We’ll send you another notice saying that we’ve done so, of course.)
Waiting for that to happen is unwise, though. If there are problems, you’ll need to fix them anyway — and it’s better to do that now while you have weeks to work on it. Please do it now to avoid urgent problems later on.
