Title: Your Upgrade Method Last modified: August 18, 2016 --- # Your Upgrade Method * [portalpie](https://wordpress.org/support/users/portalpie/) * (@portalpie) * [19 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/your-upgrade-method/) * I was wondering. * When upgrading, what happens if someone tried to view your site? * Also, would it be a good idea to set up a temp index file that would say that you were upgrading until such times as you were upgraded? * What method do you use? * Thanks Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 15 total) * [lelion](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lelion/) * (@lelion) * [19 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/your-upgrade-method/#post-568250) * (my method before): * (1) backup wp files from the server (FTP), (2) backup MySQL database, (3) delete all files, except for wp-content dir, .htaccess, wp-config.php, and any other files I may have modified, (4) upload via FTP new wordpress files and folders,( 5) run upgrade.php script, (6) check if the blog is OK, done:) * _(if you use a lot of plugins, a good idea might be first to disable them before upgrade and then re-enable them after that)_ * *** * (my method now): * (1) backup wp files from the server (copy via SSH), (2) backup MySQL database( wp-db-backup plugin), (3) delete all files, except for wp-content dir, .htaccess, wp-config.php, and any other files I may have modified (delete via SSH), (4) download latest WP version directly on server (via SSH) and copy them to my wordpress install dir, (5) run upgrade.php script, (6) check if all is OK, done:) * My new method is faster, and more secure. * Basically, that’s it… * My $ 0.02, 🙂 * PS I do not post a temp file, saying ‘We upgrade, please wait’ 😉 — upgrade via SSH can take just less than a minute, so why bother… Delete old files, copy new ones, run upgrade.php, that’s all:) * Thread Starter [portalpie](https://wordpress.org/support/users/portalpie/) * (@portalpie) * [19 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/your-upgrade-method/#post-568389) * I am not SSH savvy yet, but thank you for responding. * [Root](https://wordpress.org/support/users/root/) * (@root) * [19 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/your-upgrade-method/#post-568391) * I set up a temp file and use a redirect from CPanel. * [v1ktor](https://wordpress.org/support/users/v1ktor/) * (@v1ktor) * [19 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/your-upgrade-method/#post-568392) * My web host provides automatic upgrade, it backs up the whole blog as it is into a new temp domain in case something goes wrong. After it finishes upgrading, about 5 min, I just replace new plug-in folder and theme folder with old stuff. My blog looks as good as it was before. No problems. And it took me less then 10 min. * Dreamhost.com the best hosting I found on the internet. * v1k * [**affiliate link and sig moderated – see forum rules!**] * Thread Starter [portalpie](https://wordpress.org/support/users/portalpie/) * (@portalpie) * [19 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/your-upgrade-method/#post-568398) * I ended up doing a temp file while seemed to work well for me. * Thanks * [lelion](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lelion/) * (@lelion) * [19 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/your-upgrade-method/#post-568431) * I am not SSH savvy, too… 🙂 * You basically need to know three commands: * cd (change directory, to move between remote dirs) cp -r (copy) rm -rf (delete) * That’s all 🙂 * “cp” is used to backup your WordPress files before starting an upgrade; “rm” is used to delete old WP files; “cd” you use to move between different folders… * To download the new copy of WordPress, you use “wget” and then “tar -xzvf” to extract files:) * I’d like to write a short tutorial on that, maybe these days:) * The good thing is that when using SSH, things are much faster – you do not download files locally, everything is done on the server, so no delays:) * And SSH looks a bit like good ol’ DOS 😉 * [Dgold](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dgold/) * (@dgold) * [19 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/your-upgrade-method/#post-568432) * I would need a tutorial — even more than what you just wrote — to give SSH a try for the first time. I know my host offers it, but I don’t even know what program to launch to do it, or if it can be done in the browser. * Been using FTP for years. * Thanks for the tips tho * [lelion](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lelion/) * (@lelion) * [19 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/your-upgrade-method/#post-568433) * Well, while waiting for my soon-to-be tutorial, I can give you just some ‘directions’ 😉 * You need PuTTY – get it [here](http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html). * Launch it, use data provided by your hosting to connect via SSH: * Enter the host name (or IP address), OPEN session, you’ll see a black screen, then type your username to connect to your account, then type password. That’s it:) * Now type ‘cd’ to see list of directories. Type ‘cd name-of-dir’ to enter a certain dir. Type ‘cd ..’ to go level up. Type just ‘cd’ to go to the root of your account:) * Only other two commands I use are ‘cp’ and ‘rm’ to backup and delete files for my WP upgrades. * There are _lots_ of tutorials on how to use SSH in Unix, though. Just search! 🙂 * There is also very good documentation at wordpress.org, as to how you could perform upgrade using SSH. Check it out! * Be careful, you can delete everything in a second on your server account using“ rm -rf”, so practice first (in a test dir on the server for example) and learn basic syntax of SSH commands – copy, delete, move from dir to dir, etc. 🙂 * PS There’s also Midnight Commander, you can launch it by typing ‘mc’, it’s like Norton Commander in DOS, via MC you do everything and you do not need to know the commands by memory 😉 * [Jonathan Landrum](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jonlandrum/) * (@jonlandrum) * [19 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/your-upgrade-method/#post-568434) * I use Subversion. I used to use SSH with a temporary redirect to a file which stated that I was updating. But now I just bash `$ svn up` and hit `upgrade.php` and the job’s done. * [lelion](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lelion/) * (@lelion) * [19 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/your-upgrade-method/#post-568435) * When doing SSH, I feel like I have more control and know every step what it does:) Plus I do the manual backups before running the upgrade (copy files, backup database). I could make a batch script, of course (all SSH commands saved in a text file, and then run it… but then, where would be the fun of it… the manual upgrade?;-) * [Jonathan Landrum](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jonlandrum/) * (@jonlandrum) * [19 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/your-upgrade-method/#post-568437) * Yeah, I should probably do all that “turn off plugins” and “download your database” stuff. But then, where would be the fun in doing it the lazy way? :o) * [jeson](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jeson/) * (@jeson) * [19 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/your-upgrade-method/#post-568438) * up * [lelion](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lelion/) * (@lelion) * [19 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/your-upgrade-method/#post-568439) * I use not a lot of plugins, so I do not disable them lately… Just backup of MySQL databse, backups of the WP files, delete old ones, copy new ones, run upgrade. php:) * Cheers:) * [whooami](https://wordpress.org/support/users/whooami/) * (@whooami) * [19 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/your-upgrade-method/#post-568440) * I follow the instructions. That’s what they’re for. If you do that, chances are you don’t need to worry all that other crap. * 99% of the problems people have with upgrades stems from a lack of following simple instructions. No read – no work. * [lelion](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lelion/) * (@lelion) * [19 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/your-upgrade-method/#post-568450) * I follow the instructions, too. I have only 3-4 plugins (incl. Akismet). If one of them will hapen to be incompatible with a newer version of WP, I’ll simply rename the dir /plugins/ to something else and then will try to enable them one by one:) * _(Plus, with the amount of spam I get lately, I don’t think it’s a good idea to disable Akismet even for 5 mins;-)_ * Apart from the plugins, I always follow the basic principles when upgrading WP: backup files, backup database, delete old files, put new ones, run upgrade.php, that’s all:) * Cheers:) Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 15 total) The topic ‘Your Upgrade Method’ is closed to new replies. ## Tags * [upgrading](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/upgrading/) * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/) * 15 replies * 8 participants * Last reply from: [lelion](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lelion/) * Last activity: [19 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/your-upgrade-method/#post-568450) * Status: not resolved ## Topics ### Topics with no replies ### Non-support topics ### Resolved topics ### Unresolved topics ### All topics