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I am running CentOS Linux 6.8 standard, with a PHP upgrade to 5.4.45. WP and various Joomla components are telling me that I need to get to PHP7 within the coming months.
Anyone with ideas on a migration path, as I would prefer to use the latest stable version of packages?
Should I go to CentOS 7? If so, what is the best route?
EoL for Centos6 is november 2020 and for Centos7 4 years later so you have time to switch. For now both Centos versions do not have official support for PHP7, so you can install from other repos but currently SCL (Centos software collections) doesnt have PHP7. You should know that aside of EPEL and SCL is risky to use other repos because they could collide with already installed software and cause major problems or even crash the server.
For Joomla 3.5 supporting PHP7 i'm sure is just that, a suggestion that you can use PHP7 but is optional as it will work with previous PHP versions. Everything comes down to just one thing, do you want robust and stable environment or you dont care so much and eventual problems will not disrupt your online business (if you have one). This is the main reason people chose Centos/RHEL (and Cloudlinux) and not other OS when it comes to hosting. The real advantage of PHP7 doesnt come alone and heavily depends on the server specifications and how big is Joomla website. Better the server and bigger Joomla website bigger will be the advantage, counting that you already fine tuned MySQL, Apache, etc. and not using default settings. So its your call do you right now really need PHP7 or not.
How Centos doesnt support direct upgrade you will need a second server to install Centos 7 or you could make a backup of old server, wipe it out and then install new OS.
Sadly Virtualmin devs for some reason didnt take the invitation from Cloudlinux to make Virtualmin compatible with their software otherwise we would have the option to have all PHP versions installed and switching between them would be easy as pressing 1 or 2 buttons. Why this opportunity was left aside i dont know, you should ask Joe or Eric for explanation.
My suggestion is to slowly prepare to switch from Centos 6 to 7 and then wait for SCL to support PHP7. Right now i dont see any valid reason for chasing PHP7, with small websites the difference is minimal and majority of big sites are still on Centos 6/7 with PHP 5.3, 5.4 or 5.6.
Last but not least, its one thing that Joomla is supporting PHP7 but you must be sure that your theme and all plugins are doing the same.
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Failing at desktop publishing & graphic design since 1994.