PHP and When to Upgrade

PHP is a programming language that can run with Apache or Microsoft IIS and works with your server to execute the requests that make up your website. 88% of online sites run on, soon to be vulnerable PHP 5.X technology. At the close of this year, scheduled by Dec 31, 2018 security support will end for our dear old friend PHP 5.6, meaning bugs and security fixes will not be tended to and could lead to security vulnerabilities. Each PHP version gets supported actively for two years while the third year only get critical security updates. Luckily, the PHP gods had smiled upon us and extended the life for just a year longer than the typical PHP version before giving us the new year deadline. For all of you developers out there wanting to know exactly what is changing, here’s a helpful migration guide from PHP 5.6 to PHP 7.X.

While the last of PHP 5 closes out with PHP 5.6, this will inevitably leave websites utilizing PHP 5 vulnerable to attacks as well as poor performance. It has substantially reached its infamous End of Life (EOL) title. Switching to the newer PHP 7 versions is not only good for the security, but updating can ultimately save you money. Reducing the cost of doing business by avoiding software incompatibility and compliance issues. If an emotional headache isn’t enough to persuade developers to switch, the benefits will. Benchmarks show PHP 7.x has been tested to run three times faster than PHP5.6!

Let’s see:

• Faster performance resulting in less memory usage
• Three times faster page loads*
• Better for heavy traffic sites

*Performance increase as benchmarked in a testing environment. Other developer’s website performance changes between PHP 5 and PHP 7 may vary.

If you are in a shared environment that manages the OS and framework, then your hosting provider should be sending out notifications of the upcoming change, their plan of action, and cut off dates. Our managed hosting products, such as Storm VPS, Cloud Sites or Managed WordPress, have support teams that can help you switch from PHP 5.X to PHP 7.X easily. Our Managed WordPress product has a compatibility checker built in & one click button to upgrade, yet another reason to love it!

While using WordPress to power your site you can check some vital aspects by going to the WordPress plugin page and searching for the plugins that you use. Once you find the plugin or themes that you utilize, their spec pages will usually say what PHP version they employ. Also, check out the review tab for comments from users as this section gives useful information. This review tab is helpful for seeing if others have had issues with the plugin or theme and newer PHP versions. It is good practice to look up reviews and see what people have been saying about said plugin. If you don’t see any responses or it hasn’t rated well, then you will want to stray away from it. If you use custom plugins, check with your developer to see how they operate in new PHP versions. The WordPress Compatibility Plugin check will give you a list of plugins and themes that may not mesh well with PHP 7.X.

If you run a mission-critical site its best to do a compatibility checker because blindly upgrading could result in some parts of your page to not function. Checking PHP compatibility, as you would imagine, is a little more in depth but from research online, there is a compatibility checker for VPS servers that you can utilize by downloading the repo from GitHub.

It is worthwhile to note that some plugins may need a PHP module to be installed for the plugin to work. When upgrading the PHP version, you may also need to re-install the PHP module. Fortunately, our support team can assist with installing any PHP module you may need or give the best course of action if the PHP module is not available for your PHP version.

If you are using a Linux VPS the easiest way to check is to ssh into your server and run the following command via your terminal:

php --versionOutput: PHP 7.0.30 (cli) (built: Jun 26 2018 20:34:16)

cPanel:

Search php, select Multi PHP Manager, will show this screen to show which php version you are using. While on the PHP Version screen you can update the PHP version here by clicking on the check mark next to the domain and selecting the desired PHP version on the right drop down and click Apply.