Sitehost PHP and MySQL Production Updates

Greetings IU Sitehost owners and contacts,

This month the Enterprise Web Technical Services team will be updating the default version of PHP on Sitehost from 7.3 to 7.4, as well as offering PHP 8.0. Additionally, the Database Administration team will be updating the Sitehost MySQL servers from MySQL 5.7 to MySQL 8.0.

Production environment update schedule:

Tuesday, February 23, 7-9am: Sitehost PHP default updated to 7.4, with the option to move to 8.0.

Sunday, February 28, 8-10am: Sitehost MySQL servers (mysql.uits.iu.edu) updated to MySQL 8.0. (Note: MySQL will be unavailable during the update.)

With this update, users will be able to manage the version of PHP used on each Sitehost account via the WebTech website. While the default version will be updated to PHP 7.4, users will be able to modify individual accounts to use PHP 7.3, 7.4, or 8.0 to allow for testing. (Note: Accounts connecting to MySQL servers will need to use PHP 7.4 or 8.0 for compatibility with MySQL 8.0.)

The PHP and MySQL updates have already been applied in test environments. Users are encouraged to test their sites and applications for compatibility issues prior to the production updates. PHP 7.3 will be disabled on test and production servers on Tuesday, March 23, 2021.

If you have a server or application that allows specific Sitehost IPs in your firewall policies, please contact Web Services Support for an updated IP list.

To learn more about upgrading from PHP 7.3 to 7.4 or 8.0, see PHP update for IU Sitehosting.

To learn more about MySQL 8.0, see MySQL 8.0 update for IU Sitehosting.

To learn more about how to manage PHP versions for your Sitehost account, see Manage IU Sitehosting accounts.

If you have questions or feedback, please contact Support Center Tier 2 (Web Services Support) at sct2@iu.edu, or via phone: 812-856-SCT2 (7282) option 4, or 317-278-SCT2 (7282) option 4.

Thank you,
The Web Services Support, Enterprise Web Technical Services, and Database Administration teams