This announcement applies only to clients on our CPanel hosting plans, which use the CPanel branded control panel.

As many may already know, PHP versions 5.2, 5.3, and 5.4 have reached end of life (EOL). PHP is third party software that some of our clients use to run their websites on. Not all websites will be using PHP. EOL means PHP authors no longer support these versions with patches for security vulnerabilities and bugs found in the software (https://secure.php.net/supported-versions.php). Our upstream providers servers currently feature third party backported code patches that resolved security issues with versions beyond the EOL. They have supported these old PHP versions by several years, well beyond their EOL. Unfortunately, the patches for these old PHP versions have now been discontinued. Without backported patches or official security updates from PHP.net;  our upstream providers can no longer support these deprecated versions and will be removing PHP 5.3 and PHP 5.2 from the servers for security . As with all quality  hosting providers, our providers are committed to improving the security, stability, and performance of the servers. As part of that commitment;  our upstream providers will be upgrading MySQL and PHP from EOL versions, to PHP 5.6 starting on April 3, 2016. As with all our upgrades, best practices will be used to ensure a smooth and seamless transition to the new PHP versions.

PHP 5.6 – 7.0 provide extensive improvements in performance and security over previous versions. Current versions of WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Magento, all support these versions. The datacentre will be taking every precaution you can imagine to ensure the hosting service continues to run smoothly without a glitch. If you are running the current version of your website software such as WordPress,  it is unlikely the PHP upgrade will break things on your website, but it is wise to be ready.

To prepare for the PHP and MySQL upgrade, we recommend all clients take the following steps:

Although we our upstream providers do maintain backups of the servers, it is also best practice to retain your own backups on your local storage. This is also a requirement under our terms ,that clients always retain the latest backups of all data you store on the servers. If you do not have an automatic backup solution in place then now is the time to install one, or at least create a manual backup of your website.

Confirm you are running the latest stable version of WordPress, Joomla, Drupal or whatever app your website uses. In WordPress just go to the updates screen and install any updates available. WordPress has an auto-update feature you can select to give you that extra peace of mind knowing you’re always up to date.

Make sure all your plugins and themes are up-to-date. WordPress and its most popular plugins will not be affected by moving to a newer version of PHP, as most will have been designed to work on the newest versions of PHP. However, it is possible that some plugins or themes may stop working. If a plugin on your site has stopped working due to a PHP update, then you need to contact the plugin author or your web developer for support or find an alternative.

Please note that we cannot provide any support for website issues that occur after  PHP has been upgraded. If you encounter compatibility issues, you would instead need to contact your websites developer, or your app developer for support.  Some clients maybe running old out of date website code on their website, that may not be compatible with the newer versions of PHP. This is often an issue that occurs as a website ages, as Dynamic websites that use PHP and MySQL  do need to be updated on a fairly regular basis, so that they are using the latest secure version of their software. So now is the time to get your website updated.

Although not directly related to the PHP upgrade, some clients may also be  running websites that are not mobile friendly, or maybe running such an old website, that their web developer has stopped trading , or there are no more updates for the software it uses, and the website software has reached EOL.  To cater for clients who may need a new website, we have recently released a range of new Website packages, which some clients maybe interested in moving to. The big benefits are that you can easily update your website yourself using just your web browser. You also don’t need to worry about keeping your Websites content management system up to date and secure, this is all done for you automatically as part of the website package. You can read more about our Website Packages via our Web Site Division website at http://www.designlounge.co.nz/starter-websites/nz-starter-website-packages/ . Website packages have a setup price, plus a monthly website package fee. The monthly fee is usually higher than standalone web hosting. This is because it is a ‘Software as a Service’ which includes access to the website and it’s online content management system, as well as the hosting of it. If you are interested in our website packages, you can order one at http://www.designlounge.co.nz/starter-websites/nz-starter-website-packages/ .