Installing

    • there are quite a few variations in web servers (Microsoft IIS, Apache, emerging "light" web servers) and hosting types (shared hosting, VPS, dedicated server, cloud computing)

    • upgrades need a strategy

      • backing up your site and how to revert if necessary

      • is your theme custom developed?

      • do you have custom modules?

        • how to upgrade modules and themes

      • are the contributed modules available for the new version of Drupal?

      • staging server for testing and testing the upgrade again before running it again

      • putting your site offline, coordinating with everybody including site users, readers and maintainers

      • running the upgrade

    • upgrading can be done in several ways

      • SFTP and phpMyAdmin for shared hosts

      • using Wget/Curl + tar commands and MySQL at the command line

      • CVS checkouts of core and modules

    • using the upgrade as a chance to setup Drupal in a sustainable way

      • multi-site install instead of multiple installs?

      • moving modules into their proper places (sites/all/modules, sites/example.com/modules as appropriate)

    • things to check once the upgrade is complete

      • all content and Views are properly upgraded

      • internal and/or external documentation is updated?

      • admin/reports/status

      • permissions are assigned appropriately