LiteCommerce:Before You Perform the Upgrade
The first thing you need to do when performing an upgrade of your LiteCommerce installation is to disable all installed add-on modules:
- Log into the Administrator Zone.
- Proceed to the 'Modules' section of the 'Settings' menu.
- Clear the checkmark in the 'Active' field at the top of the list of add-on modules and click on the 'Update' button to disable the modules.
If you are performing an upgrade of a live store, it is highly recommended that you make a full backup of your store including the store database and all PHP scripts and templates before you start the upgrade procedure.
To make a full backup you can either use LiteCommerce Control Panel for Windows (available for download from LiteCommerce online Support HelpDesk; for detailed instructions of the backup procedure please read LiteCommerce Control Panel for Windows Reference manual, which is available for download at http://www.litecommerce.com/manuals.html) or perform manual backup of your store. The manual store backup procedure is comprised of two parts:
- Backing up the store database. This maintenance procedure is described in full detail in the section "Backing up and Restoring the Database".
- Making a copy of all PHP scripts and templates.
- If your server is UNIX-based and you have access to the command line, issue the following command in UNIX shell:
tar -zcvf litecommerce-backup.tgz litecommerce_dir
- where 'litecommerce_dir' is the installation directory of your LiteCommerce software. The generated 'litecommerce-backup.tgz' file contains the full backup of your store's functional components.
- If your server is Windows-based or you have a UNIX-based server without access to the command line, use FTP client of your choice to download the entire LiteCommerce installation directory to your local computer.
If your store is live and running it is advisable that you create a duplicate store, perform an upgrade procedure on the store duplicate to make sure that upgrade works smoothly, and only after that apply the upgrade to your live store. Doing so will allow you to familiarize yourself with the new version of LiteCommerce software and eliminate the possible downtime of your online store, making the transition more smooth. Again, several alternative procedures can be used to achieve this, based on your local computer environment and server access rights:
- The 'Move shop' functionality of LiteCommerce Control Panel can be used to create a duplicate store (see LiteCommerce Control Panel for Windows reference manual for instructions).
- The store duplicate can be created manually. First you need to copy your current store scripts and templates to a new location:
- If your server is UNIX-based and you have access to the command line, issue the following command in UNIX shell:
cp -r litecommerce_dir duplicate_dir
- where 'litecommerce_dir' is the installation directory of your LiteCommerce software and 'duplicate_dir' is the directory where your store duplicate will be running.
- If your server is Windows-based or you have a UNIX-based server without access to the command line, use FTP client of your choice to download the entire LiteCommerce installation directory to your local computer, rename the directory and upload it back to the server.
Note that the newly created duplicate store is automatically configured to use the same store database as the original one. The next thing you need to do is create a new database on your MySQL server and copy your current data to that database. Next you need to modify the 'database' parameter in the 'etc/config.php' file to match the database containing the duplicate data. After that you would be able to manipulate your duplicate store.
