Upgrading Bulletin from v5.1.7 to v5.2.4

[baobabit]

I have taken over management of a vBulletin forum from another developer so I'm feeling cautious about doing this first upgrade. Is there a risk of wiping out the styling or content of the forum when doing the upgrade.

Also, how do I perform the upgrade. Is it simply a matter of deleting the old folder called "forum" and creating a new version of the folder containing the downloaded software for v5.2.4?

[Wayne Luke]

We recommend you backup the database first. However, there shouldn't be much issue with upgrading between those versions.

You don't have to delete the folder. Upload the 5.2.4 files. Point your browser to domain.com/forumpath/core/install/upgrade.php and go through the steps. When you're done delete the /core/install directory.

[baobabit]

Thanks Wayne, I'll give that a go.

[baobabit]

Hi,

Please can you tell me how to find out the the Customer ID for Pearl Dental.

The backups are all done and I'm about to start the upgrade but noticed the process is going to require input of a Customer ID - I can't see that on any of the forum admin panels or in any of the emails.

Many thanks, Adam

[Mark.B]

It is in the members area where you downloaded the software.

[baobabit]

Thanks, I found the customer number.

[baobabit]

I am trying to upload the new software using FTP (FileZilla) and some of the files fail to upload. The FTP system reports errors for 133 files. Here's an example of the error message generated.
Command: STOR ca-bundle.crt
Response: 550 ca-bundle.crt: Permission denied
Error: Critical file transfer error

In all cases the file already exists. Some of the files look important to me (e.g. /core/vb/api/node.php) but others look unimportant (e.g. /fonts/dosis/dosis-light.svg).

Having checked the permissions on these files it's 775 so I can't see why they won't upload. If I delete the target file the new version uploads perfectly.

Q1. Could this be something to do with the forum software or is it a hosting issue?
Q2. Do I need to manually delete & upload 133 files or is it safe to try running the update without the latest versions?

Thanks, Adam

[Trevor Hannant]

Any issue uploading files to your server is a hosting issue - you'll need to speak to your host to make sure your FTP account permissions allow overwrite.

[baobabit]

Having sorted out the file permissions and got PHP upgraded to 5.5 I ran the upgrade but the process aborted at 97%. Please can you help? I have attached a text document containing the "Upgrade Process" output.

[Mark.B]

You can try refreshing the page and see if it moves on.

If not, then that error indicates a server timeout, and you should contact your hosts.

[baobabit]

Please can you let me know what setting needs changing. I tried the following change to .htaccess but it had no effect:
php_value max_execution_time 300

We're using a dedicated server so I should have the ability to change the settings myself.

[Mark.B]

Increase the MySQL wait_timeout value.

[baobabit]

Hi, I have tried that. If I go to /core/install/upgrade.php are click on "Begin Upgrade" it fails immediately and gives the following message:

The server returned no response. This is probably due to a timeout setting. Please contact vBulletin Support for assistance

Script: final
Step: 14

[Mark.B]

You'll need to check the server logs and find out what is causing it to time out.

[baobabit]

Thanks Mark B.
Here's what I'm getting in the log:
[Fri Nov 11 17:22:54 2016] [error] [client 81.105.10.95] PHP Fatal error: Class 'XMLReader' not found in /var/zpanel/hostdata/zadmin/public_html/forum_pearldentalclinic_co_uk/core/includes/adminfunctions_template.php on line 3820, referer: http://forum.pearldentalclinic.co.uk...ll/upgrade.php

Does that help?

[Wayne Luke]

Please make sure that class is enabled in PHP - http://php.net/manual/en/book.xmlreader.php