Upgrading a big ExpressionEngine v2.9 site to v7. Brainstorm!
How Do I?
I’m planning a major upgrade from 2.9.2 TO 7.X latest… With a lot of content..
What’s the best way to export as i’m starting with a clean/fresh EE install.. and i’ll refactor lots of code.. Fields will almost remain the same (Except the core field type available since 2.9 (means a lot) 😉)
Note- this was a brainstorm session on approaches to a really old site upgrade
There are varying ways to approach upgrading a really old site, and what approach to choose can vary by site. To start, a few things to keep in mind.
Upgrading from anything older than v3 will REQUIRE all add-ons be updated. The number of third party (and first party, not included in core) and the specific add-ons used is the most important factor in how difficult an update is. If an add-on doesn’t have a v7 compatible option, it will need to be replaced or manually updated. Decide the add-ons you need and collect them before starting your upgrade.
Old versions won’t work on the latest versions of PHP. New versions won’t work on old versions of PHP.
In the initial question, the developer is starting with a clean slate, meaning installing a clean version of ExpressionEngine and exporting and importing the old data. This allows modern practices to be used constructing the templates (layouts vs embed only) and gives access to new fieldtypes.
From the discussion, options for exporting and importing include:
I like to build my own custom XML templates for the export and import using DataGrab. But you can also use Smart Import/Export plugin for both sides of the process
to get your data out of 2.x, there’s my old Export It Add-on.
In many cases, especially not doing heavy modification of the underlying structure, running the upgrade from old 2 new, rather than import/export, is the way to go.
If all the content is sticking… Might not be crazy to try the following:
*(Clone site & Backup ALL THE THINGS) * Get the site up and running locally/dev server *Uninstall all add-ons you can (maybe keep fields to field types you like) *Turn off extensions via the config file * Upgrade PHP version to at least 7.2 (honestly might be able to do like 8.x as well) * Run upgrade from EE 2 -> 7 (Please note version 7 has the most solid upgrade system in it…. has way move fixes then the older versions)* (old version of EE shouldn’t have to do anything after that.) * Work with stripped down version of EE 7 site towards new / rebuild
Another user notes their process is similar:
- Setup site locally
- uninstall any plugins that won’t be making the trip to EE7
- Upgrade EE2 and plugins to latest version of EE2
- Upgrade PHP version to 7.2
- Manually place files for EE7 and EE7 compatible plugins
- Run the EE7 updater
Thanks, this is what I am looking for