Upgrade php from 4.2.3

MistaT2000

Hello Folks,

I have taken over some sites built with php 4.2.3 and want to upgrade to 4.3.4 or higher. They all have mysql databases which run under mysql 3.23.39 and Apache/1.3.27!

Its a production server so I need to be careful 🙂
Its running MS Windows server 2003 and not hosted by anyone else 🙂

Where the hell do I start?!?! :eek: :queasy:

bradgrafelman

Wow. Not only are you using Windows (cringe), but you're talking about ancient versions of all the software involved.

I would say find a separate box you can play with, and install the latest (stable) versions of all software - PHP5, Apache2, MySQL (4.1 at least... 5 if you want). Once you do this, configure it up so that it's similar to your current setup. Then... TEST. Turn on verbose error logging for all software and run through as many of your applications as possible. If you can do it on similar hardware, you could even do some stress/load testing as well.

bpat1434

I'll just mention this:

First things first: Ensure Register Globals is OFF and Not Relied Upon

Coming from php 4.x they may have relied upon register_globals being on (which it's not on by default in php5).

Also, you should NOT upgrade to php 4.x because of the simple fact that as of 8/8/08 it will be no longer supported. So just jump on the php5 bandwagon now and save yourself the trouble later.

bradgrafelman

I would also recommend searching for $HTTP in your scripts in case they used the $HTTP*VARS (ex. $HTTP_POST_VARS should be $_POST).