Upgrade nopCommerce 2.3 to 2.4 on Godaddy shared server

I found the directions given for the upgrade a bit vague for those of us not as technically adapt. So I documented the steps as I proceeded to interpret them and perhaps help others.

Does anyone believe I went out of process and/or missed a necessary step?

Steps:
1. Backup your existing database
2. Execute upgrade.sql script over your database
3. Remove all files from the previous version except App_Data\Settings.txt and App_Data\InstalledPlugins.txt
4. Upload new site files
5. Copy back App_Data\Settings.txt and App_Data\InstalledPlugins.txt files
6. Ensure that everything is OK

Notes:
1. If you stored your pictures on the file system, then also backup them (\Content\Images\) and copy back after upgrade



Download: nopCommerce 2.40 (no source) and nopCommerce 2.40 (upgrade script)
https://www.nopcommerce.com/downloads.aspx

Extract all files , I used 7zip http://www.7-zip.org/download.html

1.  Backup your existing database

before beginning upgrade:

Back up your store’s database
Sign into your Godaddy Account,
Go to home page
Click on databases at bottom of page, click on sqlserver icon, click on pencil under Action of Store’s database, click backup icon.

Backup all files to your local computer (htdocs,_db_backups_, Subdirectory utilized for nopCommerce, asp.net_client_, & _hcc thumbs_ ), I used FileZilla FTP http://filezilla-project.org/download.php   You should also choose to save the individual files: App_Data\Settings.txt , App_Data\InstalledPlugins.txt and \Content\Images and place them somewhere that you would have easy access for transfer during the upgrade.

make no changes till after upgrade is completed and backed up to a new folder on your local computer.

Verify permissions are set appropriately (you may have adjusted or renamed some for security reasons)

Log into admin change settings to ‘store closed’ if you choose (although all admin should also stay out of site, id keep the option to allow admin administration to enter as yes, not certain what will happen otherwise, would you be able to get back in from the browser without going to file manager first and writing over the program line?  (subfoldername.yourstore.com/login), logout of admin, make sure all other administrators stay logged out during upgrade.

2.  Execute upgrade.sql script over your database

Database upgrade:

Access your Godaddy Account
Go to home page
Click on databases
Click on manage by web administration of Store’s database
login
Click on Query Analyzer

Open ‘upgrade’ notepad down-loaded from nopCommerce  
Copy File
Paste file into Box of Query Analyzer
Hit Execute

Hopefully you will see…..Script executed successfully!!!!.....

Check site – even if offline---- may have reverted back to some default options
(subfoldername.yourstore.com/login)  
Logout

Now the site upgrade begins:

3. Remove all files from the previous version except App_Data\Settings.txt and App_Data\InstalledPlugins.txt

What I did here was use FileZilla ftp to transfer the extracted 2.4 version files to replace the existing files one Directory at a time, (Clicked Yes to Overwite all files during each transfer vs. deleting them all-wasn’t comfortable with that)

4. Upload new site files

Because of the added steps I made the App_Data Directory file transfer the first to be
Executed. Starting with the App_Data Directory, Where the individual files Settings.txt and InstalledPlugins.txt were left in tact  

5. Copy back App_Data\Settings.txt and App_Data\InstalledPlugins.txt files

4. Upload new site files

As I proceeded uploading the new 2.4 version files one Directory at a time . I logged into the site’s web administration to verify each transfer was successful and/or has not caused the site to fail. (this would allow me to drop back and restore the site with the backups if anything failed)  Once verified I logged back out and proceeded to transfer the next set of Directory files, login, verify, logout, until completed. Finally the 9 individual files that went directly into your subdirectory were transferred. Our images were ok and there was no need to copy them back.

6. Ensure that everything is OK

Logged into Admin clicked on System dropdown , system information now reads:

nopCommerce version: 2.40
Operating system: Microsoft Windows NT 6.0.6002 Service Pack 2
ASP.NET info: v4.0.30319
Is full trust level: True
Server time zone: Mountain Standard Time
Server local time: Monday, March 19, 2012 7:55:06 AM
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT/UTC):   Monday, March 19, 2012 2:55:06


Thank you for your support !!

Thanks for sharing,
But I think godaddy shared hosting has some limitations.limit to 1024( not very sure if this is accurate) files in each folder,
Database file size is also limited to 200mb only.

Being new to e-commerce, I'm a bit disappointed that it took more than 2 weeks to get a single reply, let alone one that didn't address what was originally asked but pointed the finger at the hosting provider.  nopCommerce appears to be stuck in the development stage and is unwilling to transition into customer service and delivery. Having chosen to be an open source application, I would suspect your business strategy is highly dependent on the revenue stream generated from the donations of satisfied users to which the small business community (including mom & pop operations looking for economical solutions that includes the chosen hosting provider) are a major part of.  

Check out how much further along  Zen Cart has progressed in the delivery of services and how quickly the input of their developers and the community assist users at "all skill levels", no matter what hosting company they use http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/index.php .  Not to mention Microsoft's /IIS - AspNet , an obstacle to which nopCommerce has limited input and the culprit in respect to the delay of initially loading one's site. It was the reason we even attempted this so called upgrade v2.4 only to find out another one v2.5 has already been released.

nopcommerce has great initial default aesthetics and implementation, but I'd rather spend a little more time getting the site up and running initially, than dealing with continual upgrades or waiting for assistance when being down where existing or potential customers have no access and choose to go elsewhere..... Good Luck Everyone

Everyone has their opinions on software and platform so I'll keep some of mine to myself. However, I want to point out that nopDev didn't point a finger at the hosting company in a negative sense.  It was more of, "There's a few limitations to point out..."

ZenCart has been around since 2003 while NopC has been around since about 2009.  In that short amount of time, there has been an explosion of features and improvements made to the system at an incredible rate.

From a developer's standpoint, there's no equal. From a non-developer's standpoint, I can understand frustrations that may incur for lack of support; however, the community IS growing and blossoming. We'll get there...

Your documented upgrade process looks like you touched on everything quite well for being self described as "not technical." Good job!

Understand Nop's young, but mature beyond its years...  Feel free to bump threads and look in other areas of you're not getting the response you need.

-D

I would really like to see better installation/upgrade information. I especially would like to see better upgrade scripts.

I recently had to upgrade from 1.9 to 2.4. This involved several steps, which I won't cover in detail, but essentially I had to upgrade 1.9 to 2.0, 2.0 to 2.1, etc. When I was finished, I was unhappy to discover that many things were NOT copied as part of the upgrade/install. Most of the store settings had to be reset, as did the home page text, tax settings, shipping settings, etc.

I also posted a question about the upgrade process which was never answered, so your lack of response appears to be unfortunately typical.