PrestaShop

Transferring PrestaShop to a New Web Hosting Account

If you need to transfer a PrestaShop website to a new hosting account, either at a new web host or another account at the same web host, the process usually isn’t too hard. But there are things that can go wrong, so below we go through the important things to do as you are working to accomplish that in way that leads to a smooth transfer.

Test Before You Switch

When doing a transfer like this, the best advice is to do a test of the transfer before you make the final switch over. That way, if any problems come up, you can work on resolving them without having to rush the process.

Transfer the Files

You will need to transfer the files from the old hosting account to the new one. That is usually most easily done using FTP or SFTP to copy the files from the old hosting account to a computer and then copying them from there to the new hosting. That also provides you with a backup of the files.

Transfer the Database

You will need to copy the database from the old hosting account to the new hosting. That is usually done through phpMyAdmin, to export a copy of the database from the old hosting account, and using it to import that copy of the database to a database on the new hosting. Though there may be other options depending on the hosting setup. You will need to create a database on the new server to import the existing database.

Update The Configuration File

Once you have copied the files and the database, you will need to update the PrestaShop configuration file, which is at /config/settings.inc.php or /app/config/parameters.php depending on the version of PrestaShop in use, in the new hosting to have the credentials for the new database.

Plan for a Switch Over

After you have tested out everything and confirmed that it works, plan for a time to switch over to the new hosting. You will need to allocate time for recopying the database and if the files have changed, the files as well. You also need to allocate for the time it will take for the website’s domain name to point to the new web hosting.

You will also want to make sure that access at the old hosting is blocked, so no more changes are being made once you start the final transfer process.

Redo The Transfer and Point The Website’s Domain to New Hosting

Once you have made a final transfer of the database and possibly the files, you need to update the records for the website’s domain name to point to the new server.

Getting Help

If you need help with PrestaShop, we offer support and we offer a service specifically to handle transfers like this.

Upgrading PrestaShop 1.6 Probably Isn’t the Right Response if Your Website Starts Having a Problem

A reoccurring issue we have run into is that people contact us looking to have software on their website upgraded because a problem with the website has started occurring. They fail to mention that at all, leading to them complaining that the problem hasn’t been fixed after the upgrade. It happens so much they we now note in description of our upgrade services that upgrading probably won’t solve a problem they are having, but that we can address the problems while doing the upgrade. We also specifically ask if they are having any issues with the website, in case they miss that note, so they can we avoid having unhappy customers.

We recently had an example of that sort of situation that deserves special note, because it could lead to serious problems. We had someone contact us looking for an upgrade of PrestaShop, where they were currently using the last version of PrestaShop 1.6. Upgrading any further means upgrading to PrestaShop 1.7.

Going from PrestaShop 1.6 to 1.7 sounds like a relatively minor upgrade, but it is actually a major upgrade. Existing themes and modules won’t work with the new version. So someone doing that upgrade trying to fix a problem is likely going to have new headaches to deal with in addition to the still unresolved problem.

PrestaShop doesn’t suddenly change how it is working. So if something starts going wrong, that means something else has changed. If server-level software changes, that could cause problems with PrestaShop that an upgrade could resolve. But other changes will not be resolved that way. For example, a hack won’t be resolved by upgrading and trying to upgrade when there is malicious code on a website could actually cause even more problems.

If you don’t know what is going wrong with your PrestaShop website, it is best to find help to fix the problem instead of guessing at a fix, like doing an upgrade, and hiring someone to do that. If you do need PrestaShop support, we are there to help.

What Versions of PHP Are Compatible with Prestashop?

When upgrading web software, one of the first issues you need to deal with is whether the new of the software is compatible with the PHP version you are using or if you need to make a change. With PrestaShop, that has become more complicated as the range of PHP versions being supported has shrunk with recent releases. Version 1.6.1.x supported PHP versions from 5.2 to 7.1. The latest version, 1.7.7.x, only supports PHP 7.1 to 7.3.

Figuring out what versions of PHP are supported by PrestaShop is not made as easy as can be. PrestaShop does provide a chart (current as of when this was posted):

But it isn’t given its own page on PrestaShop’s website, instead you have to scroll down on the “System requirements for PrestaShop 1.7” page to find it.

That doesn’t tell the entire story though, since, for example, if you are running an older version of PrestaShop 1.6.1.x it won’t include PHP compatibility updates for newer versions of PHP that were included in later releases.

Managing PHP Version Differences

If you are keeping PrestaShop up to date, you usually shouldn’t run into PHP version compatibility issues. If you have a more out-of-date PrestaShop version that needs to be brought up to date, then you are more likely to run into issues. That is one of the many reasons why you should do a test of the upgrade first, since it makes it easier to handle any issues like that. In the best-case scenario, your web hosting setup allows running different PHP versions in different website directories and the various versions of PHP you need access to are available. Things get more complicated when either of those are not true.

We can help you with either of those as we provide both one time upgrades, with a test done first, and ongoing upgrades on a subscription basis.

How PHP Version Support is Determined?

If you are wondering how the developers of PrestaShop decide which versions of PHP to support, you can find a detailed explanation here. The short version is that it is based on what versions of PHP are currently supported and what versions of PHP are supported by software that PrestaShop depends on.