Sunday, December 11, 2016

Jumping from Ubuntu 14.04 Server to Ubuntu 16.04 Server w/o Planning

So this is what happens when you make this switch:
  1. PHP goes to v7.0, which means no legacy mysql procedural interface, though the mysqli procedural interface is an easy substitute, though not identical (e.g. arguments reversed in order in some calls, or additional arguments required when used in procedural mode). Check and fix errors as they are emitted, then identify similar with searches.
  2. MySQL goes to 5.7. That means some more strict mode changes, for instance I had to add an unset field in INSERT statement that error'd in 5.7, but was fine in 5.6. Or you can disable strict mode.
  3. Faster performance. PHP 7.0 claims to be 100% faster than the last major version (v6 was skipped). Figured I'd mention something good.
  4. Apache listening only on IPv6, wha?!? Or so it might appear in netstat at first. Really it is focusing on IPv6 and handling the incoming IPv4 over the IPv6 interface using mapping, from what I gather thus far. Again, I am not a server admin, I don't have time to be a one, as I am a developer. I just do it because I have to.
Generally otherwise OK. Watch out for the little things and tail the error logs constantly is my advice. Otherwise, nice to be on a build we know is supported for years from a security perspective. BUT if I had it do over again, definitely I would have stayed with 14.04, as I did not realize just how big a switch this would be!

I would NOT, under ANY circumstances, advise a do-release-upgrade on a production server! Build a new server and replace. I did that even in this case, just didn't want to rebuild to 14.04 when I'd went to 16.04.

Gripes: No HTTP 2.0 in default Apache2 package. No reboot-less kernel updates.

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