Is manual update the best way to address the info in error log and loss of website issue?

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Hope this is the best forum for my question. My website suddenly became a blank page, with no admin access. I contacted my host, but they believe it is:

"Concrete5 looks to be trying to run a directive called ini_set which the current version of php (5.4) does not support anymore. We keep a backup that is written over every night at midnight, however it will restore the site to what it looked like yesterday and will still have this code in it. The way to get rid of it is to update Concrete5 to the latest version of the software. Normally this is done from the admin panel but that wont be accessible because of these errors so you would have to do a manual update which Concrete5 knowledgebase or support should be able to walk you through that."

Here is the error log they looked at:

[08-May-2014 16:06:42 UTC] PHP Warning: ini_set() has been disabled for security reasons in /home/nbgninja/public_html/updates/concrete5.6.0.2/concrete/config/base.php on line 136
[08-May-2014 16:06:42 UTC] PHP Warning: require_once(Zend/Cache/Backend/File.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/nbgninja/public_html/updates/concrete5.6.0.2/concrete/libraries/3rdparty/Zend/Cache.php on line 133
[08-May-2014 16:06:42 UTC] PHP Fatal error: require_once(): Failed opening required 'Zend/Cache/Backend/File.php' (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/nbgninja/public_html/updates/concrete5.6.0.2/concrete/libraries/3rdparty/Zend/Cache.php on line 133

Is doing a manual update the best way to proceed? And if so where are the instructions for that process?

Thanks for your time and help. I thought I'd check in with better minds before I give this a go.

~Catherine

 
JohntheFish replied on at Permalink Reply
JohntheFish
The easiest way to get up and running again is to downgrade your web server to run your site under php5.3. This could be a php ini setting, an htaccess setting, or something in your host control panel. As to which, you need to ask your host support desk.
WillNinja replied on at Permalink Reply
Thank you, JohntheFish. I will ask them. Would I then need to do further updates to get the site to the latest version?
JohntheFish replied on at Permalink Reply
JohntheFish
I would definitely advise upgrading from 5.6.0.2 to 5.6.3.1 (always backup first and ideally test on a staging or development site.). However, I don't know if that would solve your php5.4 problem.

I definitely wouldn't advise trying to run the upgrade manually while the site is down. C5 upgrade scripts bootstrap themselves through the existing site code, so if that doesn't run, you could end up with a non working site for the php version combined with a failed upgrade behind the scenes.