I'm running a server with Plesk 6 and Redhat 9, just as the topic title says. Stop laughing. I've never upgraded simply because everything I needed has worked, so I've never felt the need to risk screwing that up.

But now I need to upgrade something, and I only have a few days to do it, so moving everything over to a new server (which is my ultimate goal) is not possible right at this moment.

What is the easiest way to upgrade from PHP 4.2.2 to at least PHP 4.3 (but NOT PHP 5...the package I need this for does not yet support PHP 5) on this system? Assume you are talking to someone who is not overly familiar with upgrading packages on a Plesk setup, and its an older Plesk setup at that.

I *DO NOT* know if this will work on RH9 Plesk but I think that it may. You may want to poke around and see if you can find anybody confirming this:

http://www.eth0.us/plesk-php

The package names may have even changed. I would say just go with 4.4.6 while you are upgrading *if* you think that your scripts are compatible. Many times with old servers upgrading php breaks multiple other sites at once which should be a prime concern of yours.

Also make sure you get a backup of anything important before starting. The libphp.so and php binary would be 2 good things along with the php rpm you have installed if you can get ahold of it.

You don't say, but what version of PHP are you running now? I'm assuming probably some earlier version of 4.x.

At one time Scott (AtomicRocketTurtle.com) would have had rpms to make it easy, but I know he doesn't maintain archives back that far.

If it were me I'd probably compile it from source. I believe they keep archives of several older version source installations over at php.net.

I'd also take some precautions first to make a backup copy of your /etc/php.ini, the libphpX.so in/usr/lib/httpd/modules/ (where the X may be the number 4 if you're currently running PHP4), and also of your /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf files. Additionally I would throw up a quick phpinfo() file and copy the current Configure Command from the top of the page so that you can easily duplicate it later, adding whatever modules you need to add in there.

There are some older posts around here regarding how to install php from source. Or if you just don't feel comfortable doing it there are several folks who offer such services for a reasonable amount of cash who could do it and make sure everything works.

FTR, going all the way back to Plesk 2.x I've never had a php installation break Plesk when compiling from source, mainly because PSA's admin has always used it's own stuff that mostly works separate from what the rest of the server does. But it's still wise to have some files backed up and to know what the configure command of the previous install said.

I just wanted to drop in a quick "thanks" to the two of you for replying. As it was, between a Sunday afternoon, a large book on PHP, another large book on MySQL, and a six-pack, I was able to get things working good enough under PHP 4.2 that I have some breathing room.