Time to upgrade 7.0.9 to 7.1.4

For those that have done so, can you give me an estimate of the time it would take to upgrade a site from 7.0.9 to 7.1.4?  I am wondering how long a site would be down to perform the upgrade?

It depends on your preparation. As you (might) know there are major changes to the template and also to the available modules. Further more it depends on the 3rd party modules you have installed and their compatability with Dolphin 7.1.4

If you do the upgrade right there should be zero down time. 

Expand on this.  I was thinking that I would need to take the site off line during the upgrade process.  Are you indicating that the upgrade can be performed on a live site?

I guess I need to go read up on the upgrade procedure as I have not done that yet.

I know it should go without saying but back it all up, sql an all before doing it!

I've upgraded lots of sites, results have varied depending on the site and setup.

normally though, if you were talking about a clean basic site, it takes very little time at all between each update.

 I just upgraded a site from 7.0.9, two days ago, live and while users were online.

It's not good, but it also can be done within 30 minutes for me, and as stated depending on the modules.

After each patch just make sure your clearing the cache folders very quickly after the upgrade is done, delete the upgrade directory and do the next one, after .2 the updates are smaller and quicker to upload to the server.

What I do is also create a News message that the site is undergoing an update and if they see problems to "ctrl F5" and this of course will clear the cache.

Also, most vendors modules will run but is it still suggested to get the updated versions first.

Modzzz modules require re uploading the new files and running a "sqlupdate.php" to update your databases.

IBDW updates are the easiest to do period.

Deanos requires backup which are excellent.

If you have time, clone the site and do the upgrade and see how it goes.

My problem about the spy module slowed a clients upgrade, but that was my fault.

Correct. It normally is applied while the site is running.

There may be features that are temporarily unavailable during the upgrade, such as if a module needs to be removed as part of the upgrade, but the site itself stays up.

However, even tho the site is up during the entire process, everything does not work 100% until each upgrade is complete.

So even tho dolphin_jay said there would be no downtime which is 100% correct, it really depends on how you define downtime. Fully functional is different matter.

Dolphin Jay did my upgrade for me... I was VERY pleased with the results...

P.

That being said.... I want a fully functional site... with no errors for my users during an upgrade or anything else that needs to be done..

I purchased Deano's  http://www.boonex.com/m/Site_Maintenance_Mode_Mod and now that my site is getting busy, will utilize in the future...

Peer

Yes, it is dealing with the modules that is putting me off from the job.