Our recommendation is to always run the most modern stable version of PHP that your application supports. It is almost always faster, more secure, and better maintained. It will also give your application the longest possible potential life, as opposed to choosing tech that is soon to be discontinued.
In this article, we’ll cover how you can test your application on a new PHP version.
Time needed: 2 days
- Create a backup of your site (recommended, but optional)
Being prepared with a backup of your site is never a bad idea. This is how you can backup your WordPress site. If you don’t have a WordPress site you can backup your site like this.
- Create a new Free trial Bolt
Your site’s PHP version is defined per Bolt. This means that you will need to create a new Free trial Bolt with your desired PHP version to change the PHP version of your site. Contact Servebolt Support if you require more GB to work with or if you should have any questions.
- Copy Control Panel settings
When your new Bolt has been created you need to copy every necessary site-setting over to the site within your new Bolt. That includes cache settings, PHP Memory Limit, cron jobs, etc.. Keep in mind that cron jobs need to respect the new path of the new site.
- Migrate your site between two Bolts
Our sitecopy script is handy for migrating your files and database for you. We also have a guide specifically for copying a WordPress site with our sitecopy script. Keep in mind that sitecopy doesn’t copy files outside of your web root, so if you got important files elsewhere than your web root, then migrate those too! Don’t hesitate to reach out to Servebolt Support if you need any assistance.
- Test the new PHP version
Your site(s) should now be copied over to a new Bolt with a new PHP version and running on Servebolt Internal URLs. If your site(s) are still not running on Internal URLs, then changing the URL can be done with the help of WP-CLI, SED-commands, or with the help of a WordPress plugin.
This last step is an important one. An upgraded version of PHP for your site(s) may cause issues depending on the code you’re running. Make sure you double-check all functionality and be sure to check the ErrorLog file.
That’s all! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to Servebolt Support at Servebolt.com.
