This how to was updated in December 2103. New info associated with WordPress 3.8 and iThemes Sync.

Starting with WordPress 3.7, minor updates (e.g. from 3.7.1 to 3.7.2) are by default handled automatically. We can change that to not happen automatically via a code change to your site. We recommend, however, that you leave the default and have those handled automatically.

Major updates (e.g. 3.7 to 3.8) still require manual intervention. You have to do something to initiate the update.

iThemes has a new plugin + service called Sync. It enables updating many WordPress sites (the core WordPress, themes, and plugins) from one location. Since XWS has a multi-site license, we can use Sync to update our own sites and our customer sites quickly.

To help with updating, we have a page that contains a table listing the sites that we manage. List of WordPress sites managed by XWS. The table on that page is managed in a TablePress table.

Do all of the sites with Update Sort = 1 first. Wait a few days and get confirmation from customer, or Denny, to proceed with Update Sort = 2 sites. Ask Denny if we should do any Update Sort > 2 sites.

Update using WordPress

Do all of the following steps for each site.

1. Confirm BackupBuddy
   Go to the Plugins pane. Ensure that BackupBuddy is installed, active, and licensed.
   If not installed, install and configure it. See “Howto install BackupBuddy”. {We might have to create this HowTo.}
   If it’s not activated, activate it.
   If it’s not licensed, license it. See “Howto license iThemes plugins“.
2. Do a Full Backup
   Go to BackupBuddy > Backup. Click on Complete Backup.
   When that’s done, return to Backup page and add a Note indicating the reason for the full backup. Usually “Prior to update to wp x.y.z”.
3. Delete old backups
   Delete any full backups with the note saying “Prior to update …” to a previous version.
   Delete any db backup older than about 6 weeks.
4. Update WordPress
   Go to Dashboard > Updates. Click on the “Update Now” button.
5. Update Plugins
   Go back to Dashboard > Updates if there are plugins to update.
   Select the plugins you wish to update. Usually the Select All button is what you want. Sometimes, you might want to uncheck some plugins that should NOT be updated. See especially Shortcode Ultimate. The V3->V4 upgrade was not backward compatible.
6. Update Themes
   Go back to Dashboard > Updates if there are themes to update.
7. Recheck
   Go back to Dashboard > Updates. Everything should be up to date now. If not, continue to update.
8. Test the site
   Go to the front page of the site. Browse the site to 5 or 6 pages. Home page, one or two static pages, one or two single posts, one or two categories, and do a search. If all seems right, you’re done.

Update using iThemes Sync

iThemes Sync makes it a bit simpler to update a bunch of sites at once.

To use Sync, go to the Sync website. Log in using the iThemes credentials. You can replace steps 4 through 7 in the above list with the following.

1. Open the details of a site by clicking on the site name or on the down arrow button. This shows you what components of the site need to be Synced.
2. Hover over the gear icon to see a popup list of commands. Select “Update All” to update all of the components at once. If you don’t want to update all of them, you must update each component separately.

Don’t forget to do step 8: Test the site.

An iThemes product must be licensed in order to be updated via Sync. If you’re not seeing a product in the Sync screen, make sure it is licensed.