Anyone on Wordpress should take notice...

[Ronnie Nijmeh]

Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet

Jane the problem with that auto upgrade is your system is even less secured now. One should never give hackers the ability to access their db.. By having auto install this is exactly what you may be doing. Now all hackers really need to do is hack your admin and trust me that is easier then most think.

Personally I have already ripped the coding out for auto upgrades on the "test" blog I have installed.

James

Hey James,

What if we did one of the following:

1. Changed the default WP username from admin to something hard to guess.
2. Added a second level of password security on the wp-admin folder, that way hackers would have to crack two sets of users/passes before they can access the admin and auto-upgrade feature?

Ronnie

[Shane Bryan]

Hi guys,

I'm fairly new to the world of Word Press blogs. I'm still running 2.3 because worried about updating messing things up. One thing I see mentioned frequently is backing up your database. How do you do that and is it critical to updating?

Thanks for the help.

Shane

[Razvan Rovinaru]

I just upgraded some of my blogs using Fantastico DeLuxe. Worked like a charm and the new version looks great.

The fact that we can now upgrade from the wordpress control panel is the best new feature without a doubt.

[Dean Kennedy]

Hmm, if 2.7.1 is out too quickly I may even wait for 2.7.2.

Can't say I have an urgent need to be a bug-catching guinea pig!

I'll just have to put up with a few weeks of "WordPress 2.7 is available! Please update now" on my dashboard!

[sylviad]

I'm still working on a version from 2-3 years ago - not sure what version, but having seen the newer ones, it's clear this is outdated.

The newer version (not this final upgrade you're talking about) allows you to set each post on a separate page, so that they all get their own proper URL rather than those /archives/83 endings. Then, the URL will actually be the title of that blog post.

The version I'm using does not have this option.

Since my blog is already set with those undesirable URLs, will they automatically change if I upgrade and add the right plugin to set each post on its own page?

It would be great if it would, because I just looked at my Archives and although it lists 30 posts, it only shows me 7 and I have no idea how to get to the rest of them (as a visitor, not in the Admin area). Why do they not all show up when I click the particular categories? It appears now that my visitors are probably missing a whole lot.

I'm definitely upgrading, but it would be good to know if this page vs post issue resolves automatically or whether I'm stuck with the original way until I make new posts.

Thanks.

Sylvia

[John Collins]

Originally Posted by Shane Bryan

Hi guys,

I'm fairly new to the world of Word Press blogs. I'm still running 2.3 because worried about updating messing things up. One thing I see mentioned frequently is backing up your database. How do you do that and is it critical to updating?

Thanks for the help.

Shane

Hi Shane -

I back up everything from my hosting cPanel. I'm using Hostgator and cPanel but I'm had other set ups and they're pretty much the same. There's a WordPress plugin to download just the database but I like to download everything not just the databases.

Once you login to cPanel or other control panel look for the Files section and there should be a choice there called Backups. Click it.

You should now have several things you can back up. I have a folder on my computer just for back ups. In that I have a folder for each site.

Say we want to backup Blog1. I have a folder Blog1. In that I have a folder for each component I can backup from cPanel. I name each folder so it's close to want they call it on the download button in the backup area in cPanel. Then in cPanel as I click - Home Directory and the download window opens I download it into a folder HDir. Blog1>HDir.

I then do the MySQL Databases. Just click each one and download it into its own folder. I name all the folders close to what they are called on the backup page. If you just download them into the same folder you find it confusing until you have done it a few times especially if you need to do a restore. An example would be - on the backup page in cPanel under title - Download Email Forwarders - is a button called - Forwarders. On my computer is Backups>Blog1>Forwarders. Forwarders is the folder I'll download to. But the file that actually downloads aliases-yourdomainname.com That way I don't need to think about it if I need to do a restore. You do a restore from the same page you do a backup. Then I finish doing the email forwarder and filters backups.

You can Backup just your MySQL databases if you want but I recommend you do the Home Directory, the databases, the Forwarders and the filters. If you only have 1 database that's only going to take 4 clicks to downland it all. If you have more that one database you'll need to download each one separately. You'll probably see what I mean when you get to the backup page in cPanel. It's easy and quick.

I keep previous backups for a while just in case. At least the last three. The Blog1 folder I would have Blog1 2008-1215 using the date. Then the next time create a new folder Blog1-DateOfNextBkup etc.

This is good to do just in case you need to do any type of disaster recovery. I do it when I do any thing that could have risk. Even some plugins use your database so if you install a plugin and it messes up your database you can uninstall it an do a quick database restore and your back in business.

One other thing I noticed was there is a download like this -

Full Backup

Full backups can only be used for moving your account to another server or keeping a local copy of your account

For some reason the Full Backup one doesn't like to work using Firefox it opens it like a web page but doesn't look like one. If you decide to do that option use Internet Explorer and it will work as a download. You don't need to do that one unless your moving to a different server. I've only done it twice. Just in case you try it you'll know. If Firefox doesn't want to play nice use IE instead.

If you want to save your .htaccess file or WP_Content(if you have a custom theme or a theme you've modified the code or plugins) just use your FTP client to download them to a folder.

[JustVisiting]

Originally Posted by Sweet Jane

There is a new WP 2.7.1 coming out to fix some security issues.

That' why I love WP so much. As soon as a new version is released they tell you another is on its way, usually with security fixes

But IMO it's still the best for affiliate marketing purposes.

[babarapho]

Thanks You for this information. I am off to update

[danhughes]

Take care updating to 2.7... It's a very big change. Do not use any auto-update plugins, I have yet to find one that doesn't make things worse with this update.

Obviously backup your databases and any content not stored in the there. Remember if you have changed any of the code from within wordpress, make sure you download a copy with the changes in it.

Deactivate ALL your plugins.... it's easy, and will save you a ton of potential bother.

Do a manual update.... Yes, I realize this is a hassle, but is easier that fixing things after the fact.

Re-activate your plugins one by one. That way you will know which ones (if any) do not work in 2.7.

2.7 does not fix any major security problems.... that I am aware of, there are not major problems at the moment. With that in mind, if you do not have time to do manual updates on all your blogs, wait until there are specific plugins for the 2.7 update.

[babarapho]

Thanks for the information. I am off to update my site

[tommen]

I think I wait with the upgrade to the newest version of Wordpress, there´s always some problems with the plugins.

Originally Posted by Ronnie Nijmeh

Hey James,

What if we did one of the following:

1. Changed the default WP username from admin to something hard to guess.
2. Added a second level of password security on the wp-admin folder, that way hackers would have to crack two sets of users/passes before they can access the admin and auto-upgrade feature?

Ronnie

Ronnie,
If they crack the first they will crack the 2nd ... The point is here and many many developers will fully agree with me on this... You never attach the ability for your admin area to control your database in any way. Doing so is opening your site up to hackers.

What you need to realize is WordPress is open source code and hackers have access to the code just like anyone else. Now since wordpress insist on attaching the admin to the database you can be your bottom dollar hackers are already making plans on how to use that to their advantage..

What people need to understand that not all automation is a good thing, sometimes it can be a serious bad thing.

http://www.wordpresssecured.com/wpsecurity/ keep you eye on it for a secured update to WordPress Secured..

James

[Karen Blundell]

The thing is I have no choice but to upgrade. I still have a handful of clients who pay me to be their WordPress consultant. In fact I am doing work for one of them tomorrow. And guess what, part of the work is upgrading 2 blogs to 2.7, lol. So I had to know what 2.7 was like in order to better service my client.

Generally speaking I tend to wait one or 2 releases to upgrade. And in fact I had to get on the phone with a buddy today because I had some 2.7 glitches in the back end. Some of the javascript wasn't working right. So I ended up having to re-upload the wp-includes directory. Everything works fine now.

WordPress has it's challenges, I'll admit, but I still love it.