Upgrading Your Site’s PHP Version: A Step-by-Step Guide

As a website owner or developer, keeping your site’s software up-to-date is crucial for maintaining security, performance, and compatibility. One of the most important updates you can make to your site is upgrading its PHP version. In this article, we’ll take you through a step-by-step guide on how to upgrade your site’s PHP version safely and efficiently.

Before You Begin

Before starting the upgrade process, please ensure that:

• Your hosting provider supports the new PHP version.
• You have a backup of your website (in case something goes wrong).
• You’re familiar with basic Linux commands and file system navigation.

Step 1: Check Current PHP Version

First, you need to check which PHP version is currently running on your site. This can be done by creating a new PHP file (e.g., phpinfo.php) in your site’s root directory and adding the following code:

“`php

“`

Upload this file to your website and access it via your browser (http://example.com/phpinfo.php). In the output, you’ll find information about the PHP version currently running on your site.

Step 2: Create a New PHP Version File

Next, create a new PHP file (e.g., php_version.php) with the following content:

“`php

“`

This script simply outputs the current PHP version. Upload this file to your website and access it via your browser (http://example.com/php_version.php). The output will indicate which PHP version is currently running on your site.

Step 3: Update PHP Version

To update your site’s PHP version, you’ll need to use a command-line interface (CLI) or consult with your hosting provider. Here are the general steps:

• Connect to your website using SSH or access the CLI through your hosting provider.
• Navigate to the directory where your website is located using cd commands.
• Update PHP by running a command like this: sudo apt-get install php7.4-fpm (adjust according to the version you want). If your web server software doesn’t support automatic upgrade, proceed with manual configuration.

Step 4: Restart Web Server

After updating the PHP version, restart your web server by running a command like this: sudo service apache2 restart or similar depending on what web server software is being used. Check if everything works fine and there are no errors.