WordPress is a very popular blogging and website application. This makes it a popular target for automated attack by hackers. To protect your site from vulnerability it is critical that you keep your WordPress websites on the latest version of the software and all Plugins up to date, as well. The other key benefit of staying abreast of updates is to take advantage of new features and bug-fixes.
There are several ways to ensure your website is kept up to date including:
- One-click updates in the WordPress Admin
- WP-CLI Update (a powerful and easier than you may think)
- Jetpack Plugin (a strongly recommended site and plugin manager)
- Manual Update (not-recommended)
Version Check
Before you upgrade your version of WordPress to the latest, you should know what version of WordPress your site is running. You can find this out by logging into the WordPress Admin and the version is usually listed at the very bottom of the site at the right or left. It's important to know that upgrading from WordPress 3.x to 4.x will include changes that will affect your themes.
Back-Up First
Before performing any of the following update procedures, you should use the MODX Cloud Backup operation to backup the entire site and database. This way, if you have any problems, you can restore the site as it was before starting.
One-click Updates in the WordPress Admin
On versions of Wordpress above 3.7, there are automatic-background updates for patch releases, i.e., 3.7.2->3.7.3, however, you'll need to tell WordPress to use the one-click update method for feature releases and major versions such as 3.7->3.8 or 3.7->4.5.1. The One-click update is available in all versions after WordPress 2.7.
- Go to your WordPress site login page and log in.
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Once logged in, you will see a notice at the top that there is an update available. Click Please update now.
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Then on the Updates page, click on the Update Now button. Once the process completes. You will be on the latest version. - You'll then need to upgrade your Plugins from the Plugins link shown on the left side of the image in the previous step, above.
WP-CLI Update
MODX Cloud provides SSH login credentials for every Cloud. While you may not be super familiar or comfortable with SSH, installing wp-cli and running the update is incredibly easy.
- Login to your Cloud via SSH.
- Install wp-cli by entering (copy and pasting) the following command at the prompt in your SSH client:
sh -c "$(curl https://modx.co/scripts/install.sh)" -
After wp-cli is installed you'll see the following at the end of the install operation on screen: => You'll need to relog SSH to be able to use the commands, or run: source /paas/cXXXX/.profile as shown above, where cXXXX will be the number of your specific Cloud. You should be able to copy and paste this back in. This restarts the session so you can use wp-cli without logging out and back in. - Run the WordPress update by typing or pasting the command below into your command line/SSH client:
wp core update - Login to your WordPress site to make sure it worked as expected. Yes, it was that easy.
Jetpack by Automattic
Jetpack is a Plugin that further keeps your WordPress site up to date by ensuring your Plugins are updated automatically. Jetpack is free, requires a free WordPress.com account and has additional options for security and social traffic growth as paid enhancements. MODX Cloud strongly recommends using Jetpack as a way to further keep your site safe from hacks.
Traditional Upload Update
While there should be no reason you need to take this route, if you know what you're doing or you encounter an issue upgrading your WordPress installation using the previous update methods, you can follow the complete instructions for manually updating WordPress.