TechBanyan Updated To Wordpress 2.5
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I started TechBanyan with Wordpress 2.3.1 and it served me well. No major hiccups or security breaches. That is, I haven’t found myself on the receiving end yet.
Yesterday like I also posted, I came across about various posts where “experts” recommended upgrading asap because of known hacks in the version 2.3.2 and earlier. The fact that Technorati took the decision not to index those blogs as well added to the urgency of upgrading to the latest version.
Another compelling reason was to protect the readers who visit my site. Under no circumstances should they be at the risk anytime of clicking on an unverified link on this site. But we also need to keep in mind when sites like ZDnet can get hacked, nobody is really secure.
We still make an effort and are never short on this. At TechBanyan, I try and ensure we have the latest and safest version running.
I would also like to share my experience of updating the website with the latest version of Wordpress 2.5 in the hope of educating/informing other users who are still sitting on the fence wondering about whether to upgrade or not. And if you have already decided to upgrade, then what is the best strategy on how to go about doing it.
Simple Steps To Achieve Upgrade Nirvana
Note: You can choose to upgrade through the update plugin manager but when I tried using it, my site ran into trouble so I discarded the plugin and updated the version manually.
First of all I would like you to know the process of upgrading is extremely simple. You don’t have to be a programmer or a Wordpress expert to do it.
Anybody and everybody can do it and SHOULD do it. All you have to do is follow some very basic and simple rules. As long as you do it methodically, you will be safe.
1. I am assuming that you are comfortable with FTP tools like WinSCP or FileZilla and know how to use them. These tools are required to copy the latest files into your web host. So make sure you have these tools ready.
2. Now before you upgrade, it is extremely important to take the backup. 99.99% percent chance you wont need it, but it is good/prudent practice to have it ready just in case hell breaks loose.
Download and activate the best Backup Manager plugin available from here. Installation is quite straightforward and hassle free. Take the backup whenever you are ready. Also, copy the backup over to your local machine for better safety.
3. Download and unzip the latest copy of Wordpress on your local machine.
4. Before we do any thing else, one thing I want you to take note of is, wp-content folder on the web host need not be updated as part of upgrading Wordpress. You should only be concerned here about updating the files in the top folder and the two folders below: wp-admin and wp-includes.
5. Deactivate all your plugins. This includes the Database backup plugin.
6. Using the FTP application, create a temp folder underneath your root folder. Copy all your root folder files in this temp folder.
7. Rename the two folders wp-admin and wp-includes to something like wp-admin_old and wp-includes_old etc.
8. Now copy all the new files and the two folder from your local directory to the web host directory. Ensure that wp-config file is the one which contains your site configuration.
9. Refresh the admin page of your site. You will be prompted for updating the Wordpress database. Click on ok and wait for it to be updated. Would take a few seconds. Until this happens, your website would appear blank.
You are almost there. Manage your plugins. Delete the temp folder and _old folders (option). You are all set!
Let me know if you run into issues.
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3 Responses to “TechBanyan Updated To Wordpress 2.5”
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I read your post about 2.5. I have not made up my mind about upgrading yet as I am worried about the stability and availability of plugins.
What is your experience?
Most plugins would be stable and available.
I used Automatic Update plugin and that messed up my website. So I used manual update through copy paste as described above and then it worked fine.
To confirm the stability of your site and plugins, why don’t you create a local environment first using WAMP and test out the upgrade.
I have a tutorial on installing Wordpress with WAMP on the local machine. That would make your job very easy.
[…] see absolutely no reason why you should delay the upgrade for even a single day. Take a look at my simple & straight forward tutorial and if you have any questions, I’ll be happy to answer your […]