Lessons Learned

Upgrading ALL of your software together can be hazardous to your website’s health!

Last week several of the packages I use on a frequent basis all popped up with update notices. Without even a thought I upgraded the packages and kept on with my work. A couple of days later my partner said that he noticed that my web site was not looking too good and low and behold; it was mostly wrecked!

The solution was of course to restore from backups. Unfortunately however some of the backups were made before certain updates and some were made after. In the end the web site had to be rebuilt section by section making hand repairs to code as we went along.

The reason I mention this is to remind everybody that it is essential to follow a backup procedure and never stray from it. No matter how many years you’ve got away with being lazy; one day it will get you. Like it got me!