Giving Drupal an Oil Change

Damien McKenna

Mc-Kenna.com & Bonnier Corporation
Twitter: DamienMcKenna

Well done!

• Project completed
• Looks & works great
• Client happy
• You're happy

Next?

• What now?

Three Steps

1. Take a nap
2. Backups
3. Security check

Three Steps

• Without any further adieu...

Step #1: Zzzzzzz...

Step #2: Backups

• Backup_Migrate module
• Download, install, configure,
• Schedule
• & forget

Step #2.5: Zzzzzzz...?

Step #3: Security Checks

• Security Review module
• Written by Ben Jeavons aka coltrane
• Looks at site for common security gaps

Step #3: More Security Checks

• Go further if you can..
• Cracking Drupal book
• Written by Greg Knaddison aka greggles
• 200 pages of gold

Step #3.5: Zzzzzzz...?!?

What Next?

1. Deployment
2. Maintenance
3. Learning more & contributing

Deployment Prep

• System Status Report page
• DBLog module

Deployment

• New sites/*/settings.php dir & file
• e.g. sites/www.example.com/settings.php
• Update the database settings
• Upload all files
• Database backup
• System Status Report page

Troubleshooting

• 404 error on paths you know exist?
• Does /user work, or /admin?
• Make sure ".htaccess" was uploaded
• Check logs

Maintenance - Cron

• "Chronograph", i.e. run scripts on a timer
• Daily, hourly, etc.
• Backups, search index, etc, etc
• Visit http://example.com/cron.php
• Configuration depends per webhost

Maintenance - Updates

• Core "Updates" module
• Settings
• Email notification
• How often

Maintenance - Updating

1. Download file
2. Remove old directory
3. Extract new archive
4. Run update.php
5. Test
6. Upload
7. Run update.php
8. Test

Getting More Help

• Mailing Lists
• Documentation
• Books
• Local user groups / meetings
• Drupal.org Forums
• IRC
• Twitter - #drupal tag

And Now..

• So lets get started...

Step #1