WHMCS 4.5.1 Upgrade Installation/Doc'n Qsn

[CPMiller]

With all due respect to the WHMCS documentation guy(s)/gal(s), I find your upgrade instructions just a wee bit...confusing. Ambiguous. For convenience's sake, here's my problem items:

 

6. Upload the new files to your existing installation folder overwriting any existing files

7. Visit the admin area as you normally would to login and you should then see the upgrade script

8. Accept the license agreement

9. Tick to confirm you have backed up your database and click the upgrade button

10. Once the updates finish, delete the install folder from your server

 

EXISTING INSTALLATION FOLDER

In your full install instructions, you say to unzip the WHMCS files on your desktop and then upload all the files to an "installation folder." Then, at the end of the install process, you tell us to "delete the installation folder." By definition then, we cannot have an "existing installation folder."

 

Is the "installation folder" in #6 above really the production application folder--that is, what was created from the install files in the "installation folder" during the original full installation?

 

Now, in #10, you confuse the issue all to...um, heck. Because after we uploaded to an install folder that didn't exist, implying that you meant the production application folder, now you want us to delete it? You know, I just don't think that'd work out too well.

 

So, would the Official WHMCS Documentation Folk care to qualify and clarify the upgrade instructions?

 

As an aside, the 4.5.1 I have (via 3rd party license from Site5) looks like a full install. Dumping that into the existing production software folder would, I think, make a huge mess. Is there a 4.5.1 upgrade version? IOW, one that contains only the files necessary to do the upgrade?

 

And for anyone who's actually read this far, 35 years in enterprise IT has developed in me a finely tuned alarm system. And the bells are a-ringin' on this one--as in, perhaps it'd be best to wait till another couple of point releases go by. Any social comments out there on this?

 

Thanks

 

Charles

[usadomains]

Actually, the instructions are pretty straight forward.

 

before upgrading/uploading, backup your database and files.

 

Yes, the "existing installation folder" is where it was originally installed. Upgrading is merely overwriting the original files from a previous install. The folder is not named in the instructions as the folder name can be changed from the default directory name.

 

You don't upload all the files to the "install" directory. The install directory is where the install/upgrade scripts and sql files are placed, to perform an install or upgrade. Once you upload 4.5.1, simply login to your WHMCS, and it should automatically invoke the upgrade scripts. Once the upgrade is done, simply delete the install directory (for security reasons)

 

If you can't figure it out, WHMCS does provide an installation/upgrade service at a reasonable price.

[CPMiller]

Yes, the "existing installation folder" is where it was originally installed. Upgrading is merely overwriting the original files from a previous install. The folder is not named in the instructions as the folder name can be changed from the default directory name.

 

You don't upload all the files to the "install" directory. The install directory is where the install/upgrade scripts and sql files are placed, to perform an install or upgrade. Once you upload 4.5.1, simply login to your WHMCS, and it should automatically invoke the upgrade scripts. Once the upgrade is done, simply delete the install directory (for security reasons)

 

Hi

 

Sorry about the delay in getting back on this--I've been fighting green snappy things for a few days.

 

Although I appreciate you taking time to answer, you don't really solve the problem of ambiguous language.

 

All the documentation refers to "install folder" as a place where you dump the raw WHMCS files. So, you unzip everything on your PC and you FTP the lot up to some folder on the server. Let's call that folder "FRED". And we're talking the first ever original install.

 

From FRED, you then execute the installation script. That script creates a WHMCS folder and a bunch of stuff--files and subfolders--go under it. When the install is done, you're instructed to delete the "install folder," a.k.a., FRED.

 

Now, along comes 4.5.1, The Upgrade. First thing out of the gate (besides backing stuff up) is to unzip the 4.5.1 files on your local workstation. From there, you're told to FTP that collection of stuff up to your "install folder." But there is no install folder--FRED--because you deleted it during the initial installation process.

 

Meanwhile, what you DO have is a production software folder called WHMCS. The 4.5.1 zip that I have yields something (unzipped) that contains roughly the same number of files and folders as the original install (4.4.2 in my case). If I assume that the production software folder called WHMCS is the "install" folder and overwrite everything in it, what am I left with? I'm left with a mess that's fundamentally destroyed whatever was there before--for example, any template revs.

 

Worse yet, the upgrade installation instructions tell me that I should, after the upgrade, delete the "install" folder. Well, if I followed the course of action above--overwriting WHMCS--then for sure I clean up the mess. How? Well, I delete the whole shebang. Now all I've got is some mySQL DB sitting out there in limbo all by its lonesome.

 

Now, being a common sense sort of guy that I am, with vast experience installing software over 35 years in the IT biz, I'm assuming I FTP up the unzipped 4.5.1 to a DIFFERENT folder than WHMCS. And I'll call this folder HARRY. So, HARRY is all nicely populated after the FTP. Now tell me what connects HARRY to WHMCS such that when I start WHMCS in the browser, it knows (a) it needs to upgrade and (b) it needs to find its upgrade files in HARRY? Well, the instructions don't say.

 

So, while I have no doubt that the upgrade is probably not rocket science, the documentation explaining HOW to upgrade is ambiguous. If I follow those instructions to the letter, I'm going to either not have an upgrade (i.e., there's no connection between HARRY and WHMCS) or I'm going to have absolutely zilch--because I've deleted this nebulous, poorly defined thing called an "install" folder.

 

All I'm looking for is black 'n white, unambiguous instructions like:

 

Unzip WHMCS 4.5.1 into a folder on your PC. The folder name can be anything you wish to call it. In our instructions, we called it JAKE.

 

Copy the folder JAKE and all its files and subfolders to a folder on your server. The folder on the server can have any name you wish. In our instructions we will call it JOE.

 

Do something or another that connects your current WHMCS installation to the folder called JOE.

 

Start your browser and log in to WHMCS as you would normally. You will see blah blah blah.

 

Click the link that flashes red and green and yells PICK ME and click it. This will start the upgrade process. During the upgrade, you'll see this, that, or the next thing.

 

When the upgrade is finished, you'll see a message that says UPGRADE COMPLETE.

 

Once the upgrade is complete, you can delete the folder JOE from the server. Its contents are no longer needed.

 

That's all I'm asking for. Unfortunately, your answer doesn't provide that explicit, unambiguous set of instructions either.

 

Charles

[tommyinnn]

The "install folder" just means the folder you installed WHMCS in -- I have mine in the root, so clients can visit using http://www.mywebsite.com, many people install in a folder, such as mysite.com/folder -- that folder would be the "install folder"

 

If you have not modified your templates or installation, you should be safe to just upload and overwrite everything, however many people have modified the template or files to customize to fit their website, in this case you don't want to overwrite your work.