Topic: Upgrade fron 1.1.21 to latest version

[DaveM59]

I am a complete beginner here, no previous programming experience so I need simple help please.
I admin a forum I was handed down when the previous admin went awol, it is V1.1.21 and is working very well but a few things like the recaptcha has failed as the version has been expired and I cannot find where the scripts have been patched to remove it and install a later version, so I'd like to start afresh with the latest smf version.
I have uploaded all the large upgrade files, run the upgrade.php and it either fails with errors about the php version isn't high enough or the SQL is not compatible.
Our host WebHostingUK gives these specs...

Database server
    Server: Localhost via UNIX socket
    Server type: MariaDB
    Server connection: SSL is not being used Documentation
    Server version: 10.0.38-MariaDB - MariaDB Server
    Protocol version: 10
    User: XXXXXXXX@localhost
    Server charset: cp1252 West European (latin1)

Web server
    cpsrvd 11.90.0.17
    Database client version: libmysql - 5.6.43
    PHP extension: mysqliDocumentation curlDocumentation mbstringDocumentation
    PHP version: 7.3.6

phpMyAdmin
    Version information: 4.9.5

What an I not doing?

I have also installed all the files into a separate directory, edited as many instances of the addresses to the new folder in an attaempt to at least get a forum page to display but all I get when I browse to the index.php is an error "Unknown column 'a.attachment_type' in 'field list' " which I am guessing is something in the database, so do I need to upgrade the database in some way and if so how, and also can I do it in parallel with the existing one so I can play in the new forum before releasing it to the users. I have put the current one into maintenance mode.
Sorry for the long ramble!

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

If you are trying to get from 1.1 to 2.0, yes you do need to update the database - that is what the upgrade.php script is for. And no, you can't run 1.1 and 2.0 from the same database side by side.
If your 1.1 install is working perfectly, the server is NOT running PHP 7.3 - that is for sure. So perhaps ask your host to confirm what the specs used atually are, and not what they should be?

https://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Upgrading

[shadav]

yes you can run the 2 at the same time but they would be in different locations and different databases, this is common to make an entire copy (files and dbs) of a site then upload it elsewhere for testing and updating purposes....that way your live site is still live

it's always a good idea to take a full backup of the site before starting anything as well

and as aleksi stated, if you are running 1.x of smf there's no way that your php is 7.3, 1.x is so outdated it was never designed to work with 7+ php

I don't think that you can just straight upgrade from 1.1.21 to 2.0.17, I could be wrong but pretty sure that you have to go one by one

1.1.21 to 2.0
2.0 to 2.0.1
2.0.1 to 2.0.2
ect ect ect

https://custom.simplemachines.org/upgrades/

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

The large upgrade package should actually be able to handle a straight 1.1.x to 2.0.17.

[shadav]

good to know

[shawnb61]

FYI, both the 2.0 & 2.1 upgraders will upgrade straight from 2.0, 1.1, 1.0 & even YaBBSE 1.5.5.

When they have problems, the issues tend to be due to database-level customizations, or failed/partial utf8 conversions. 

Both upgraders can be run via CLI, as well. In fact, going forward, I'd probably recommend CLI over browser upgrades for large or very old forums.  CLI is much better at reporting errors.
https://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Upgrading

[DaveM59]

utf8 conversion? The admin section asks if I want to convert so does this mean the database is still in an older format? Should I run the conversion first?

[GigaWatt]

First, make a backup of the old database, then yes, convert it to UTF-8 .

[Sir Osis of Liver]

If your 1.1 install is working perfectly, the server is NOT running PHP 7.3 - that is for sure. So perhaps ask your host to confirm what the specs used atually are, and not what they should be?

I've seen this once or twice, where host was reporting incorrect php version.  Run phpinfo (attached), that will give you accurate versions.

Wouldn't make any changes to database until upgrade is successful.