Due to the kernel panic issues we had on maverick yesterday, we decided to postpone this PHP 5.3 transition that was scheduled for today.

We are going to reschedule this transition to happen next week, Tuesday July 17th. We may add another server and transition two servers next Tuesday, but that has not yet been decided.

If you haven’t already done so, you should check to make sure that you are using all up-to-date scripts on your website. Also check and make sure that you are using up-to-date plugins, extensions, components, and themes. This will help to insure that the transition to PHP 5.3 goes smoothly for you.

Steven

We will be continuing our PHP 5.3 transition next week July 10. We will be converting the server maverick over to PHP 5.3 by default. As with our previous post we are making this change to bring our servers more up to date with the current state of PHP.

To find out what server your account is located on, try our server identification tool at:

http://amshelp.com/identify.php

You need to insure that all of your scripts are up to date and compatible with PHP 5.3 before this transition is made. If you need help determining what scripts and what version of the scripts you have installed, contact us and we can help you.

Below is a list of popular scripts that are known to support PHP 5.3.

– WordPress

– Joomla! 1.5 (version 1.5.15+)

– Joomla! 2.5

– Drupal 6+

– phpBB3

– SMF

– Gallery

– Coppermine

– phpList

– Zen Cart (version 1.3.9+)

– Moodle

We strongly encourage you to keep your scripts up-to-date. Even if you don’t feel that it is necessary for you to update your script, please understand that failing to keep a script up to date is the number one reason why websites are hacked and defaced.

Steven

We are going to be beginning the process of transitioning our servers over to PHP 5.3. Whereas right now, all PHP scripts on the server (unless you have requested otherwise) are running under the outdated and deprecated PHP 5.2 system, after this transition PHP scripts will execute under PHP 5.3 (the latest version of PHP 5.3, which right now is 5.3.13). We are set to begin transitioning to PHP 5.3 around Tuesday, June 5th.

This will begin a move to bring our servers more up to date. PHP 5.2 is outdated and no longer being supported. A transition to PHP 5.3 really should have happened several months ago, but because we wanted to make sure all of the popular scripts were updated to support PHP 5.3, we held off on performing this transition.

Pretty much every script you use should be compatible with PHP 5.3, because after all, PHP 5.2 is deprecated and no longer being supported. If you are using a script that does not work with PHP 5.3, then this should be a sign that it is outdated and insecure and no longer being properly maintained. It may be the case that you are using an outdated version of a script that has since added support for PHP 5.3. It cannot be stressed enough how important it is for you to keep your scripts (and your themes/plugins/components/extensions) up to date. When you don’t upgrade your scripts you are leaving your website open and vulnerable to an attack. It is up to you, as the website operator, to keep your scripts up to date.

You need to insure that all of your scripts are up to date and compatible with PHP 5.3 before this transition is made. If you need help determining what scripts and what version of the scripts you have installed, contact us and we can help you.

Below is a list of popular scripts that are known to support PHP 5.3.

– WordPress

– Joomla! 1.5 (version 1.5.15+)

– Joomla! 2.5

– Drupal 6+

– phpBB3

– SMF

– Gallery

– Coppermine

– phpList

– Zen Cart (version 1.3.9+)

– Moodle

Again we will be beginning this transition to PHP 5.3 around June 5th. You can help to minimize any problems on your account by insuring that you are using the latest version of any script on your web hosting account and insuring that it is compatible with PHP 5.3.

Steven

The Joomla! developers have released an update to the Joomla! 1.5 software.

This is a security release and fixes a known security issue. All users of Joomla! 1.5 need to update to this new version.

http://www.joomla.org/announcements/release-news/5419-joomla-1526-released.html

If you are not using Joomla! 1.5 or Joomla! 2.5 you need to upgrade to one of these version, as other versions have gone end-of-life. For more information see our post at:

http://blog.amssupport.info/?p=476

Steven

The developers of the Joomla! CMS product recently released a new version of their popular CMS application, Joomla! 2.5. This application is replacing their former product, Joomla! 1.7. Joomla! 1.7 will be going end-of-life on February 24th, 2012. This means that no further updates or releases will be made for the Joomla! 1.7 line of products. All Joomla! 1.7 users need to upgrade to Joomla! 2.5 before February 24th, 2012 so that their website can remain safe and secure.

For a better understanding of this, let’s take a look at all of the current Joomla! products:

Joomla! 2.5
Currently the latest version of Joomla! 2.5 is version 2.5.1. This is the latest version of the Joomla! 2.5 series. All users of Joomla! 1.7 need to upgrade to this release tree.

Joomla! 1.7
This version of Joomla! is being retired and being replaced with Joomla! 2.5. Versions of Joomla! 1.7 include: 1.7.0, 1.7.1, 1.7.2, 1.7.3, 1.7.4, and 1.7.5. If you are using ANY of these versions of Joomla! then you need to upgrade to Joomla! 2.5.1. Support for Joomla! 1.7 will be ending on Friday, February 24th, 2012. This is coming directly from the Joomla! developers. What this means is that after February 24th, if you continue to use Joomla! 1.7 on your website and a vulnerability is found in the Joomla! 1.7 line of products, the Joomla! developers will not fix this security issue. Your website will likely be defaced, hacked, and your web hosting account will be compromised. We may to to suspend or disable your web hosting account if this happens. PLEASE upgrade your Joomla! 1.7 script to Joomla! 2.5 as soon as possible.

Joomla! 1.5
This is a legacy release of Joomla! As far as I am aware of, there is no direct upgrade path from Joomla! 1.5 to Joomla! 2.5. But as far as I know, Joomla! 1.5 is not going end of life on February 24th, so users of Joomla! 1.5 are being allowed to continue to use this version of the script. The latest version of Joomla! 1.5 is 1.5.25. As long as you keep this updated to the latest version of Joomla! 1.5, you should be safe and secure.

Joomla! 1.0 or others
If you are using Joomla! 1.0 or any other version of Joomla! on your website, then it has long since been end of lifed, and is extremely outdated. Anybody that is still using this version of Joomla! is highly at risk for being attacked, hacked, defaced, and having their website completely compromised.

—–
(Update: 02/14/2012 5:12PM CST)
Perhaps a point was not clear in this post. If you are using Joomla! 1.5.25, then you are fine. There is no need for you to upgrade or do anything else.

• If you are using 1.5.xx, some other version than 1.5.25, then you need to consider upgrading to version 1.5.25, the latest version of the Joomla! 1.5 tree.

• If you are using Joomla! versions 1.7.xx OR 2.5, then you need to consider upgrading to Joomla! 2.5.1

• If you are using Joomla! version 1.7.xx please realize that support for this version from the Joomla! developers and community will cease on February 24th, 2012. That is why these users need to upgrade to Joomla! 2.5.1.

• If you are using Joomla! version 1.0.xx OR version 1.6.xx please note that these version have already reached their end-of-life and are no longer being supported or maintained. If you are using one of these versions of Joomla! then you missed the end-of-life cutoff for those respective releases. You probably need to upgrade to Joomla! 2.5.1 but I am not sure what your upgrade path is. I would recommend posting in the Joomla Forums to see what the exact steps are that you need to do.

If you are running anything other than the latest version of your respective Joomla! release tree, then you are using an outdated version and are susceptible to being hacked or compromised. I did find this post on the Joomla! forum that echos why it is important to use an up-to-date script.

I hope this helps to clear up the confusion.
—–

Backing up your account
Before attempting a Joomla! update we encourage you to create a backup of your account. Joomla! may have a backup component in it’s system, but I am not familiar with that. We do provide a backup method which you can use via your cPanel, to back up your entire account. For instructions on this see:

http://manual.amstechdns.com/userbackup

It’s always a good idea to keep a backup copy of your website, in case something happens to your website. While we’d like to believe that upgrading your Joomla! 1.7 to Joomla! 2.5 will be seamless, in the event that something goes wrong, having a backup of your website can be a life saver.

Upgrade Instructions – Non-Softaculous Users
Upgrading from Joomla! 1.7 to Joomla! 2.5 is suppose to be easy. The Joomla! developers have placed an instruction guide on their website:

http://docs.joomla.org/Upgrading_from_an_existing_version

I have personally tried the Extension Manager: Update method and the Admin Tools method to upgrade a non-production level version of Joomla! to version 2.5. This worked without any issues. But I would stress that I did not have any extension or components installed and the Joomla! website was non-production level.

If you have questions about the upgrade process, I highly encourage you to speak out at the Joomla! forums:

http://forum.joomla.org

They have a lot more experience with Joomla! than we do and can likely better answer and upgrade questions you may have.

Upgrade Instructions – Softaculous Users
If you installed Joomla! through Softaculous, then you should be able to upgrade Joomla! to version 2.5 from within Softaculous. Unfortunately, I did not have a test site involving this, so I do not know how well this method works. If it fails to work, you may be able to complete one of the Non-Softaculous methods from above to upgrade your website.

If you are a Softaculous Joomla! 1.7 user and have attempted the Softaculous Joomla! 2.5 upgrade, we would like to hear about your experiences with this, so we can share this information with other users. Leave us a comment on how this procedure worked for you.

The one thing I can tell you is that if you ignore this warning about upgrading your Joomla! 1.7 website to Joomla! 2.5, then you are putting your website at risk of being compromised. There will be no further updates to the Joomla! 1.7 release tree, and so continuing to use Joomla! 1.7 means that you are continuing to use an outdated and unsupported piece of software.

This is all a continuing effort to keep our web hosting users informed and aware of security implications on their accounts. I can speak from experience, trying to recover from an account hack can be more difficult than taking measures to prevent a hack. Running up-to-date and supported software is one of the best things you can do to keep your website secured.

Steven