Upgrade advice?

[DebiWebi]

Hi there,

Six years ago I made a Zencart site for a client. She's been using it on her own all this time but recently she asked me to take over maintenance, weekly specials, etc. It has never been upgraded (database never backed up either) and I'm thinking I'd like to get it up-to-date so I can take advantage of some plugins and new features.

I don't remember doing much to the site other than CSS edits, but it's been so long I'm not sure. I'm HOPING the upgrade will work, but I've had some nasty experiences in the past with other software upgrades.

Is there any basic advice (other than backing up all site files and db) or warnings to make this upgrade leap smoother for me? I'm not a very technical person but can follow instructions.

I wonder if it's really worth upgrading, as the site seems to be working. But... the cache containing myDEBUG errors is 8+ megs in size so there must be some problems. I'm currently downloading the cache so I can take a look at the most recent errors.

It's not a very big or active site at this point, so another reason to upgrade now...

http://avianoutfitters.com/

[stevesh]

You should definitely upgrade from the insecure 1.3.8. Search the FAQ's for upgrade - there are a few guides. It's a pretty simple site, so it might be best to build a new site using the latest Zencart version in a subdirectory and move the current database to the new site, then move the new site to the current URL.

[mc12345678]

The undelying software making it possible to pocess all the files will no longer be supported by the files on the serve (in whole) thus an upgrade especially away from 1.3.8 of any version is highly suggested. While a little bit of a process overview for the upgrade, the following is very helpful in performing an upgrade by reinstalling. Don't freak, it's not that bad... As for the differences applied to the original store, it is still possible to download a vanilla version of ZC 1.3.8a to do a comparison on it to the live store and figure out what in fact has/had been changed...

http://www.zen-cart.com/entry.php?3-...d-of-upgrading

[DebiWebi]

Thank you both, I'll check out the rebuild vs. upgrade. The test run on a vanilla version is a good idea, which makes me think I should make a new subdirectory on the server and upload a copy of the actual customized site (and renamed copy of db), to do a test run and see if it blows up on me. That last upgrade fiasco (SMF) ran into problems with upgrading the db rather than files (large upgrade); there never was a solution in my case.

Time to put on my big girl panties and dive in. I'll be back if I have problems.

[mc12345678]

As a note to this, when doing the install to the new location, keep the DB_PREFIX the same in the new database as the existing. (Current value found n includes/configure.php)

[DebiWebi]

keep the DB_PREFIX the same in the new database as the existing. (Current value found n includes/configure.php)

I'm not sure what that means, but I'm sure I'll figure it out when I get there. Thanks!

[DebiWebi]

I'm baaaaacccckkkk. Sigh.

Tried to upload the duplicated files but it wasn't working so I decided to follow the instructions for "moving" a Zencart: Install a new 1.3.8a in the new directory and then think about moving the files/db over. I followed the install instructions that came with 1.3.8, but it's not working. This is what I've done:

1. Made a new directory
2. Uploaded unzipped 1.3.8a files via Filezilla
3. Changed both dist-configure.php file names and permissions
4. Set folder permissions to 777 per instructions for (double-checked my work):

/catalog/cache
/catalog/images
/catalog/includes/languages/english/html_includes
/catalog/media
/catalog/pub
/catalog/admin/backups
/catalog/admin/images/graphs

5. Set folder/subdirectory permissions to 777 for all folders

FROM:
/catalog/images/attributes
TO:
/catalog/images/upload

6. All other folders appear as 755, files as 644

7. http://thegreatsilentmajority.com/upgrade/zc_install/ takes me to the Welcome page

8. Next page is GPL. Agree & continue takes me to:

Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
Please contact the server administrator, [email protected] and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.
More information about this error may be available in the server error log.
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

Any idea what I could have missed?

BTW I've hit a brick wall for today, any welcomed responses will be dealt with in the morning.

[mc12345678]

Even though the instructions say to change folder permissions to 777, some servers actually do not work with them set that way, if the other folders are set to 755, then I would recommend changing those folders back to 755 from 777.

As for the rest, well, really should be using the latest version of ZC instead of the existing version of ZC... There is no update to be performed from 1.3.8a to 1.3.8a... Further, don't want to operate 1.3.8a software with a 1.5.4 database as that might cause corruption...

If you use the zc_install process on a new, blank database (DO NOT ENTER THE DATABASE INFORMATION FOR YOUR CURRENT STORE!!!! DOOOOO NOOOOOTTTTT!!!!), then you can create the configure.php files necessary to work with the new install...

I'm somewhat afraid of repeating the steps outlined in the install instructions for fear of leaving something out or suggesting a shortcut... Its become too much of a routine where actions are taken based on the system's condition, status of the site and current/immediate goal.

Question I have though is, what instructions of what has been provided above advised copying the old system files over to a new directory in order to upgrade the site? Oh wait, maybe I see. No one corrected or offered alternative instruction for the direction you said you were going to go...

End result of doing what has been described (copying files from the active site to a backup) will provide a duplicate of the current site, but no upgrade...

Because of the age of the software and the numerous changes that have been made in the underlying cart, the most productive method of getting to the current version is to rebuild the site incorporating plugins current to the new version, and to allow the install process upgrade the database as applicable. (Testing this process in the subfolder that has been created so that it can be verified as a successful operation.)

Doesn't appear that it has been stated, but the overall goal is that the new site is put together and upgraded while the live site is still productive, then it is momentarily taken offline to support the applicable changes for database to be upgraded, new files to be designated as those to be used for the site. This last part really should take no more than a few minutes to complete, but it's getting to that point that takes some time...

[frank18]

Deb,

doing an upgrade of the existing 1.3.8a file system and DB is the long and winding road and prone to many mistakes.

I usually do a complete rebuild in a subfolder when I am dealing with an ancient file system of ZC. The whole procedure does not take me longer than 2 hours unless there are umpteen (sometimes outdated) mods installed on the old site.

Another thing to consider is to make the new store responsive / mobile friendly as Google imposes penalties to sites which are not mobile friendly. This can be achieved in one hit, rebuild and new responsive template..

You also need to consider the different PHP versions required for the different ZC versions. If the server has the option to choose PHP version than a simple hack in the .htaccess file of the new version can force the new site to use a higher PHP version. the old live store would not be affected.

Also check PM

Frank

[DebiWebi]

Let's start all over again, since I think you misunderstood what I am trying to do. Eventually I want to upgrade my shopping cart from 1.3.8a to the latest version, but after a really really really bad experience upgrading other software (SMF) I don't want to just jump in and do that, especially since 1.3.8a is so old. So what I'm hoping to do is to make a duplicate of the current ZC site in a subdirectory and try upgrading that one as a sort of test run. If that upgrade works, then I will upgrade the real shop.

I thought I could just
• upload a duplicate of the current site files to a new directory,
• make a new db and import my current db into it,
• edit the includes/configuration.php and admin/includes/configuration.php files to reflect the new URLs and db name/username and edit the db name in the db itself
• then upload the latest upgrade files and run that.

That's sort of what I do when I move a Wordpress site to a new server. It works.

But in doing that with the ZC site, I couldn't get the site to open at all in a browser.

So I searched and found instructions on how to move a ZC site (which is essentially what I'll be doing, to create the test-run site). Those instructions said to install the version of ZC to match what I'm currently using, then upload my duplicate files to pick up any changes I'd made to the default files (css mostly, but I can't remember if I changed any code).

But it turns out I can't even install 1.3.8a into the new directory and get it to work. I did make a third, blank database for that install. I get two pages into the install process in my browser and get "Internal Server Error." Try it: http://thegreatsilentmajority.com/up...tall/index.php The hosting company, InMotion, has a help page that says Zencart internal errors almost always mean permissions problems or .htaccess file. I returned the permissions back to 755 but that doesn't help. I removed the two # in the .htaccess file per its note, but that made things worse so I put them back in.

So, I really could use a link to instructions to help me with what I need to do, or maybe someone knows what I'm doing wrong. I'm not a coder, not extremely technical and have no clue why none of this is working. And I sure don't want to try an upgrade on the existing cart without a trial run, my heart couldn't take the strain.