Upgrading Sitefinity Best Practices

Certified Sitefinity partner discusses the best practices for upgrading your Sitefinity site
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Simple guidelines and suggestions for updating Sitefinity

Tips for Upgrading Sitefinity CMS

Sitefinity is a leading CMS for businesses of all size. But are you getting everything out of it that you can? If you don’t take advantage of the updates, then no, you aren’t. Upgrading your Sitefinity CMS when a new version becomes available ensures that your site has the latest and greatest features and functionality that Sitefinity offers. Updating your CMS isn’t as simple as snapping your fingers, but following our upgrading suggestions and best practices below will help your business make the upgrading process as foolproof and smooth as possible.

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Steps to a Successful Upgrade

Clarity's Top Best Practice Recommendations

Cover Your Assets

Back Up Content, Database & Website

The first step when upgrading to a newer version of Sitefinity is to back up your database, content and website. On the off-chance that something goes wrong when updating the system, you will have all of your data saved away so you can easily restore it. Backing up your content can save your business a major headache and countless hours of trying to fix and rewrite code and content.

Use the Right Tools

Use Sitefinity's Migration Module

If your website runs on Sitefinity 3.7 or newer, your best option is to use Sitefinity’s Migration Module to import your site’s content when upgrading to the newest version of Sitefinity. Sitefinity created the migration tool to make it easy for clients running their site on the older versions of Sitefinity to update their sites, transfer their content, and take advantage of all of Sitefinity’s newest features.

Get Someone with Experience

Employ Sitefinity Project Manager

To make your Sitefinity upgrade as simple as possible, you need to download and run the Project Manager for the Sitefinity version you are upgrading to. After the project manager is finished running, it is recommended that you open the Upgrade.trace file that was created and check for any failed processes. If any of the processes are listed as “failed,” you will know to rerun the project manager before moving on to the next steps in upgrading.

Using the tool as designed and checking the Upgrade file saves you from getting too far in the upgrading process before realizing something has gone awry.

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Proper User Acceptance Testing

Check Everything Before You Publish

Before you make your website live again, it is vital to check all of your modules, widgets, custom codes, and everything else that could have possibly been affected by the upgrade. You may need to reset your settings because they may have changed when you upgraded. Some of the modules and widgets that you use may be outdated and not supported by the new version you upgraded to, which could mean parts of your website no longer work like they used to or deliver error codes. You upgraded your CMS to make your website better, don’t ruin it by being anything less than thorough.

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Clarity Can Help

At Clarity, we know how beneficial it is to update your CMS whenever a new version becomes available. Upgrading provides you with innovative and exciting features as well as bug fixes and new possibilities. Our team of expert developers has used Sitefinity CMS to create custom content and ecommerce websites for numerous clients. For more tips on how to best handle a Sitefinity upgrade or to speak with an expert about updating your Sitefinity CMS site, call or click to contact us today!

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