Well with a handful of WordPress sites to manage it can often take a night to upgrade them all when a new version comes out.
Considering we like most users who might find this something more annoying then useful when most of the updates are simply fixes that are not contributing negatively to the function of our site we tend to put off updates as long as possible.
With the introduction of Auto Updates for plugins… The WordPress Crew was really just getting us ready for 1 click updates to our core files.
This can be a pretty scary premise when you consider the number of files that are necessary for a wordpress install.
As of 2.7 the base install including the sample themes was a total of 603 files distributed within 76 directories. This is a fairly decent sized jump from only about 2 years ago when v2.0 had only about 340 files and half the directories. Sure function has increased but so has the time to manage the distribution.
Test Results
In our test we had 5 sites to update. One of which was running 2.5 just a few weeks ago until we updated all our sites to 2.7.
The first thing we did before upgrading was backing up our databases.
This is a pretty simple process that can be done within cPanel, PhpMyAdmin or since we are on Windows for our desktops we use the MySql Administrator Gui ap.
After your db backups are complete you want to disable your WP-SuperCache and delete all the cached files not just the expired ones. This is just a matter of cleaning that you should do once in a while anyway.
Backing Up Your Files
This really depends on your use of WordPress.
If you are accustom to using the Media Uploader then you should grab all your files by backing up your Uploads directory. You should also make backups of your wp-config.php file wp-settings.php file if you altered it and any other core or config file including your .htaccess file.
Next you should backup your wp-content directory for good measure especially if you are using the default theme and have made any changes to it. We actually forgot to check if AutoUpdate touches this file but while writing this .. if you use the default themes and have made changes to them … back them up.
Now all you need to do is press the button
click …… la de da ….. WHAT HAVE I DONE… NOOOOOO!
no really each of the five live sites that we upgraded did just fine.
But it is a difficult choice to do this on a live site vs migrating files manually from your test server.
After you test your site for function enable your cache and your plugins if needed and retest again by visiting all of your custom category and theme pages.
Remember to check all your plugins, menus and any function that you know you have edited.
Autoupdates are for live sites…. but if you are running a clustered server that gets 1,000 hits a minute you might think twice about it unless you can forward traffic completely away from your server through a dns setting until the process is over.
So, thats all for now… the first round of AutoUpdates have finally been put to the test.
We will probably talk in more detal about the process in other HowTos.
Share your comments about any problems you had we would like to hear them.
