Upgrading To PHP 7.2 And Using Other PHP Versions

At the end of 2018, PHP 5.6 officially quit receiving security updates along with PHP 7.0.

Towards the end of quarter 4, our team worked around the clock to ensure our entire infrastructure was prepared for this change.

I’m proud to announce that PHP 7.2 is now the default PHP version across our entire network!

All new customers will have PHP 7.2 by default as well as customers who haven’t specifically selected their PHP version inside of cPanel.

Customize PHP On Your Account

We’ve long prided ourselves here at NameHero on giving our customers the ability to choose their own PHP version and customize it to the exact needs of their website.

Since we started up in 2015, we’ve been using CloudLinux with their PHP Selector that gives you this ability with ease.

Unlike the traditional versions of PHP, CloudLinux actually has their own alternate PHP versions that are updated and secured by them.

Therefore you can still run older versions (such as PHP 7.0 and 5.6) but they must be selected inside of cPanel.

How To Change PHP Version

To change the PHP version of your website, simply login to cPanel -> Select PHP Version:

From here, you can select the exact version of PHP you wish to use:

In a perfect world, you’d always use whatever the native (or the latest) version of PHP, but I understand that’s not always possible (i.e. running scripts that aren’t compatible).

Once you select your PHP version inside of the selector, this is the version your website will use (regardless what the native version is on the server).

Therefore it’s a good idea to re-visit this from time-to-time to see if you can’t upgrade for performance benefits.

How To Add PHP Extensions

If your website is running fine with the native version of PHP, you may still find the need to add a specific PHP extension for your website.

You can easily do this, by selecting the alternative version of PHP 7.2 which will bring up an extension list:

Simply select the checkbox next to the extension you need and click save.

If you accidentally make a selection that breaks your website, you can always revert back to the defaults by clicking Use Defaults.

PHP extensions that would cause a conflict with another won’t set but instead display an error.

How To Modify PHP Options (i.e. Upload/Memory Limit)

We frequently get tickets from customers asking how they can increase their PHP memory or upload limit.

This can also be accomplished right inside of the cPanel -> Select PHP Version.

From the same screen above used to add/modify PHP extensions, simply click the blue link in the top right corner that says Switch to PHP Options:

From here, you have all the same options that you would typically edit in a custom php.ini file. Notice the arrows beside memory_limit and upload_max_filesize:

To change the value(s) you would simply click on the one you wish to change and select the new value from the dropdown:

One the new value is selected, you’d click Apply, then click Save.

Congratulations – now you have customized PHP for your website!

As mentioned above, as long as PHP is selected inside of cPanel the version will not change, regardless of what we set the system version to.

Managing PHP Inside cPanel

I’ve filmed a brief tutorial where I also walk through these steps and talk about the upgrade to PHP 7.2:

If you have any questions, or team is available 24x7x365 via live chat, phone and our helpdesk!