upgrading from v1.2.3 to current v1.8

[newagekat]

Hi:

An old client has just reappeared on the radar and would like to upgrade his site.  What steps would you recommend?  i noticed that there is no transition difference downloads  from v1.2.5 to v1.3 or for each major version.  since this is a live site, I'm a little reluctant to start without some concrete steps.  Does anyone have a 1-2-3 step guide I can follow?

thank you kindly

[Dr.CSS]

Depends on if you used News with custom news summary/detail templates as they moved into the News admin interface at some point, which I don't remember, but if you are real reluctant to take the plunge I would do DB back ups for each step and go for the 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6 then straight to 1.8.1 steps...

[newagekat]

Dr CSS:

i just checked and there is only one news article, not using custom news templates. Does that mean i could jump straight into v1.8.1?

[replytomk3]

No, you can't. You'll need to do a bit more of research before you can upgrade a site that old. I upgrade others' installations, and even a good preparation and a check list still leaves things that often have to be troubleshooted and taken care of.

[newagekat]

thanks for the info.  When i do a search on upgrading, I only seem to get info on versions not to far apart and the Wiki does not say much.  do you know where a step by step is mentioned?

also, the client is interested in creating a mirror site as well.  would you suggest creating the mirror site, then upgrading, and then sync the sites?  I know this can be done with rsync http://www.howtoforge.com/mirroring_with_rsync, but how do you sync the db?

I'm pretty daring, but i feel better when i have a step by step to lean on.

[replytomk3]

I have documented upgrade process for old versions extensively on the forum. You'll have to search forum by my posts (an option in search). I do not repost the info any longer because for too many reasons the upgrade process needs to be left to those with lots of experience in the process. Too many things can AND DO happen during the process. Just to mention one problem, release notes for each module should be read before upgrading modules to newer versions.