Installing Magento Extensions : Pre-install Checklist

We spend a lot of time testing our extensions on fresh installs of Magento. However, there are a lot of different ways to setup, customize, and add-on to Magento, which can cause new issues - please follow this checklist before starting your install, to safeguard your site.

Each of these steps are important, don't be tempted to skip!

• You should do this before *every* extension install (not just ours!).

1. Backup your database
   • eg. using Magento's built-in backup system:
     • Head to SystemToolsBackups and click Database Backup

   You'll see a popup option to 'Put store in Maintenance Mode?' : this will show the Magento Maintenance Page to site visitors. See section below for pros/cons.

   • eg. using the command line (changing [bracketed words] to match your setup):
     • Make a backup of your database: mysqldump -u [database user] -p [database name] > db_backup_[todays date].sql
     • Restore from backup: mysql -u [database user] -p [database name] < db_backup_[todays date].sql
   • eg. using phypMyAdmin:
     • Export/Import your Magento database

   Make sure you "Disable Foreign Key Constraints".

   • With either method, test that you can restore a backup (eg. to a test blank db) before starting!
2. Backup your app folder
   • This is the fastest way to fully revert if you need to.
   • Easiest to put it next to your current app folder (e.g. app_bkp), that way you only need to rename the two folders to revert.
3. If you have compilation enabled for your site, disable it
   • if you're not sure if you have this turned on, check SystemToolsCompilation

Maintenance Mode?

What is it?

• Magento has a built-in system to turn off the website frontend for visitors, and still allow admin access to the backend.

How to turn it on

• Just create an empty file in your Magento root with the filename maintenance.flag

Delete that file to turn off the Maintenance Mode.

• Before you do turn it on, make sure your Maintenance Page:
  • Is styled for your store.
  • Explains what is happening.
  • Gives a timeframe for completion.
  • Has a contact email/phone number.

Why would we do this?

Pros

You're about to backup the database:

• If there is any customer activity between making the backup and potentially restoring it, you'll lose that activity.
• This could include new orders. If they are then issued an Order/Invoice ID, you then turn on the store and another customer makes an order (before you can manually enter the new order(s), then multiple people will have the same Order/Invoice ID, which can make accountants anxious, and customer support tricky.
• If your new extension involves database activity in the setup, if an order comes in halfway through, you could potentially include inconsistencies into the database.

Cons

• Your site is temporarily 'closed for business' and you may lose customers (if they don't come back later).
• It's harder for you to test any frontend changes that the new extension has made (as the frontend will also be locked out to you).
  • To enable frontend access for yourself (while still showing the Maintenance Page to other visitors) edit the index.php file:

Change :

if (file_exists($maintenanceFile)) {
    include_once dirname(__FILE__) . '/errors/503.php';
    exit;
}

To :

$this_ip = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
$allowed_ips = array('127.0.0.1','111.22.33.44');
if (file_exists($maintenanceFile) && !in_array($this_ip, $allowed_ips)) {
    include_once dirname(__FILE__) . '/errors/503.php';
    exit;
}

• Edit the $allowed_ips section to match your own local IPs.
• To show a custom Maintenance Page (recommended) change 503.php to eg. maintenance.php and then create and style that custom file.