[4] Roadmap to Drupal 8 upgrades / module upgrades

[mtedeschi]

We're a bit behind on Drupal 8 upgrades. The primary issue right now is that upgrades from 8.2.X up to higher versions get a bit dangerous when you're moving between minor versions (e.g. 8.2.X to 8.3.X). This has gotten better over time, but we've even run into this with sites like Eastern State where it can cause problems unexpectedly. So, here is a roadmap to upgrading the site to the latest release:

Update 1

• [x] 8.2.4 to 8.2.8

Update 2

• [x] 8.2.8 to 8.3.1 (this is a big change, could cause issues)
• [x] 8.3.1 to 8.3.8

Update 3

• [x] 8.3.8 to 8.4.0 (this is a big change, could cause issues)
• [x] 8.4.0 to 8.4.3
• [x] 8.4.3 to 8.4.6
• [x] 8.4.6 to 8.4.8

Update 4

• [x] 8.4.8 to 8.5.0 (this is a big change, could cause issues)
• [x] 8.5.0 to 8.5.3

Module Updates

• [ ] +8.3.1 - Identify Rules module updates

I'd suggest we do these over time, and stagger them (going up one minor version at a time). I'd estimate each phase of the upgrade (including pulling backups) would take about 2-3 hours each. We should also perform each upgrade on staging first to confirm that it works as planned before installing on production. Estimated time breakdown per update group is:

• 1 hour - pull down backups of all systems
• 1 hour - install update on staging, test
• 1 hour - install update on production, test

We could do one upgrade per sprint over the next ~3 sprints to get this done, if Karie approves the time. Edit: we had to add another Update period, so additional ~3 hours or so.

[amberreeves]

sent to karie for review

[amberreeves]

From Karie: Thanks, yes, I approve ~9 hours and you’ll let me know if it takes more time.

[amberreeves]

From Karie: My tech manager alerted me to the Drupal core vulnerability that’s being exploited. I assume the updates you’re doing will take care of this problem – if so will it be resolved when you get to 8.4.8?

[mtedeschi]

They'll get resolved as we go with each update, but when we get to 8.5.3 we'll be 100% up-to-date with security patches.

[mtedeschi]

Update 1 went well and is live on the current site.

[mtedeschi]

June 6 update: Attempted the update from 8.2.8 to 8.3.1 (which is a major update). Failed on initial install on staging due to a conflict with a module (rules). After uninstalling the module, was able to successfully update the site to 8.3.1 without issue. Will need to identify if we can get a newer version of Rules installed.

Update on production is still outstanding, since its EOD.

[mtedeschi]

June 7 update: Pushed update to 8.3.1 on production successfully and made the one minor module change. The Rules module is currently uninstalled due to lack of support at that level. We will reinstall it at the end of the updates when we can pull the most stable release.

Updated to 8.3.8 on staging and production without issue. Update #2 is complete now.

[mtedeschi]

July 3 update: Working through Update 3 on staging today, aiming to get from 8.3.8 to 8.4.8 in four intervals. If this works, then I'll do the same approach on production.

I was able to upgrade to 8.4.8 on staging without issues. Will push these changes to production next.

[mtedeschi]

July 5 update: Update 3 is pushed to production on both english and multilanguage. No known issues at this time.

[amberreeves]

ok great. i updated karie.

[mtedeschi]

July 19 update: I pushed the changes to get us to the latest version of Drupal across all sites and cleaned up the server. This should be good to go / consider this complete.

The only thing I did not do is reinstall the Rules module, there is a pending update on that one for the latest version of Drupal, so I'd like to wait until it gets considered stable and then install it.

[amberreeves]

sent to karie for review.

[mtedeschi]

Closing this, since we're done with the upgrades at this point.