We have recently updated our servers to support PHP 5.3 (currently 5.3.8, but we will keep this up to date with the latest version of 5.3).

We are currently running a dual system with PHP, supporting both PHP 5.2 and PHP 5.3. Everything still defaults to the normal PHP 5.2 version. But if you have a special need for PHP 5.3, we can enable PHP 5.3 for your website.

Just shoot us a support ticket and we’ll be happy to switch your account over to PHP 5.3.

Eventually all systems will have to be switched over to PHP 5.3 by default, but we don’t have any time estimate for when that will be. When PHP 5.3 was first released there were a lot of compatibility issues with scripts due to changes in PHP 5.3 from PHP 5.2, so that is why we did not immediately upgrade and it’s why we are not switching to PHP 5.3 by default.

If you have any questions at all about this, please feel free to open a support ticket and our support team will be glad to answer any questions you may have.

Steven

We have successfully updated all of our servers to run PHP5 by default. All of our accounts are now running PHP5 unless you have specifically written in requesting that your account be turned back over to PHP4.

One thing to note, if you run into issues with PHP5 and your scripts check to make sure that you are running the latest version of that script. It cannot be stressed enough as to how important it is that you keep your scripts up-to-date. Keeping your script up-to-date avoids problems with your script being exploited by malicious users and hackers. It is in everyone’s best interest to keep your script up-to-date. It keeps the servers from being exploited and it keeps your website up and running without being defaced or used for some other malicious activity.

A lot of developers may have made recent changes to their scripts that are required in order to make the script work with PHP5. PHP5 is the future of PHP, everything is moving to PHP5 and sooner or later PHP4 will be completely in the past and no longer supported. This is why it is important that you have your scripts updated to work with PHP5 the sooner the better. If you are running the latest version of a script and it is still not working with PHP5, then you need to contact the developer of that script and find out why it is not working with PHP5 and what they are going to do about this. If a script developer wants their script to continue to work in the webhosting industry, it is going to have to support PHP5.

I don’t have a problem with setting your account to use PHP4, but please don’t confuse this with a permanent solution. If your account is set back to use PHP4, then this should only be viewed as a temporary measure put in place to get your website working while the issues with the script and PHP5 are worked out.

At any rate, I wanted to inform all of our users that PHP5 is live and active on all of our servers now. If you encounter any problems, please submit a support request so that our support technicians can handle your issue.

Thank You
Steven

We have completed two rounds of testing the PHP5 roll out and the number of problems that have been encountered is just too negligible to count. To put things in perspective, the test servers resulted in about 3000 accounts being upgraded and there were about 3 problems of differing severity levels. Because of this, I feel confident that the rest of our servers can be upgraded without any problems.

I am planning to initiate the upgrade of the rest of our servers next week over to a PHP 5 by default set up. I don’t have specific dates for each server, and I’m also not sure if all of the servers will get done next week. I do hope to get the majority of them upgraded next week. The timeframe I am looking at is from December 17th through December 20th. I am not going to upgrade any servers to PHP5 through the Holiday weekend of December 21st through December 26th.

Hopefully all of the servers will be upgraded between December 17th and December 20th of next week. But a lot of the action required depends on other factors that may surface during that time period.

At any rate, I wanted you to be aware that this upgrade is being scheduled, and the same principle still applies as was on our test servers. PHP4 will still be available, so we can switch your account back to PHP4 if needed. The argument still applies that if your script or account will not work with PHP5, then you need to investigate why this is the case. I don’t have a problem with running your account as PHP4, but you have to understand that we cannot support PHP4 indefinitely. If your script will not work with PHP5, then you need to raise this issue with the developers of that script.

Thank You
Steven

The second set of test servers have been successfully switched over to PHP 5 by default. Users that were affected by this were sent an e-mail last week concerning this upgrade.

If you experience any problems at all with the new PHP set up, please let us know.

Thank You
Steven

We performed the PHP5 switch over on a couple of test servers earliest this week. Judging from the lack of response that we received concerning this move, we believe that the switch over went through real well. To be on the safe side we are going to do another round of testing. This time we are increasing the test servers to four test servers.

Users on those four test servers will receive an e-mail message shortly telling them that they are part of this upgrade. This second batch of upgrades will be done next week, December 10th through December 14th. As with the last batch, we hope to do the upgrade on Monday, December 10th, but that date is not set in stone and the date may be pushed back a couple of days.

Also, as with the last upgrade, if for whatever reason we receive concerns regarding the last upgrade or feel that this upgrade will cause too many problems we will postpone it. If we upgrade a server and receive a lot of issues on that server, we can always revert it back to PHP version 4.

A lot of information concerning the upgrade and switch over is in an earlier post. Please read that post for more information concerning this.

Thank You
Steven