How to Update Drupal Core
- 1). Make sure your Website meets the Drupal minimum requirements, by reviewing http://drupal.org/requirements.
- 2). Back up your database. Backing up data and files is a necessary step, in case something goes wrong during the update process and you need to revert or recover lost files. You can do this in two ways. Using the Backup and Migrate Module, you can back up your database through your Drupal Installation. Download the Backup and Migrate module (http://drupal.org/project/backup_migrate) and install it in your module directory. Follow the instructions to configure this module. From the module's administration page there is the option to back up the database through the admin interface. The more traditional method to back up the database is through your database (MySQLor Progesql) interface itself. In PHPMyAdmin or your database management software, back up your database by exporting all the tables and saving as a mysql file. Keep this copy separate from the files on your server. (See links in Resources for more information on how to backup your MySQL database.)
- 3). Put your site into maintenance mode by navigating to http://www.yoursite.com/admin/settings/site-maintenance or visiting the site maintenance link in the Site configuration section of the administration interface. On the site maintenance page, select "Off-line" in the Site-status button selection area. Save the configuration with the button at the bottom of the page.
- 4). Back up all your necessary files. One of the common ways to do this is to use an FTP program such as Filezilla or CuteFTP. Make copies of the files you may have modified such as the .htaccess and settings.php files. Also make copies of your image and other file folders you have designated to store that content.
- 5). Download the latest update version of Drupal from the Drupal website or by following the link on you site's status report page at http://www.yoursite/admin/reports/status. Extract the contents of the file on your computer using a file extractor such as 7zip. Using your FTP program, upload the new Drupal version, omitting files you may have changed such as .htaccess and robots.txt.
- 6). Because you are updating a release, there are many files that you are simply replacing. Your FTP program will ask if you should duplicate or override these files, choose to override all files being uploaded. Once the files are uploaded, navigate to http://yoursite.update.php.
- 7). Click though and follow through the update steps. Your Drupal site will now begin its automatic update. Assuming all goes well, the update interface will inform you about what modules and sections were updated and provide a link back to the main page or administration page. Put the website back online through the Site Maintenance page mentioned in Step 3.
