Are you killing your forum?

[SMFHacks]

I posted this on SMF as well but this is a good topic for all forum owners.

Check now your PHP version now inside SMF.
To do so go to admin -> support and credits:



For SMF 2.0.x forums You need to be at least on PHP 5.6.30. I highly suggest moving to PHP 7.1.5 your site will become faster due to massive performance changes from 5.6 to 7.0.
Some benchmark websites: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=PTS-PHP-7.1-Benchmarks  https://kinsta.com/blog/the-definitive-php-7-final-version-hhvm-benchmark/
Site speed is a ranking factor for search engines. And also for users. The slower your site is the less likely they will come back if they find a better option.

What if your PHP version is not update? Well if you have a host contact your hosting provider and see if they can update it or give you an option to run a higher PHP version. If if you have VPS or dedicated server that is not managed you would be stuck with making sure all your software is up to date. It is not hard to do and there are many guides out their for all platforms.


In the news lately there has been talks about worms/viruses occurring to computers you should make sure your hosting software for your forum the PHP version, along with the server software itself is up to date. I just saw a user mentioned they run on Windows 2003 which has been hit hard lately but has been end of life (EOL) for many years now.  You do not want to wake one day and see your forum gone.

Backup Reminder

General reminder to always make backups of your forum and database. Try to do so at least once a month. For making database backups I would use a tool such as phpmyadmin, to make the database backups since sometimes the built in backup function in SMF doesn't always create a complete backup.

[shuban]

Is 1.x compatible with 7.1?

[SMFHacks]

No but I made it compatible i have a ton of SMF 1.1.x forums on PHP 7.1
I listed most of our changes to http://www.smfhacks.com/index.php/topic,9394.msg40987/topicseen.html#new

[shuban]

No but I made it compatible i have a ton of SMF 1.1.x forums on PHP 7.1
I listed most of our changes to http://www.smfhacks.com/index.php/topic,9394.msg40987/topicseen.html#new

Wonderful, will look into it!

[SMFHacks]

You do have to be careful though I also make an edit to SSI.php to include a wrapper file that includes mysql_ files redeclared.

If you have a test site/vps I would suggest that first.

[shuban]

You do have to be careful though I also make an edit to SSI.php to include a wrapper file that includes mysql_ files redeclared.

If you have a test site/vps I would suggest that first.

Noted, thanks.