I have been dumped into the deep end and really need some assistance.

The person that I had to install my vbulletin has bailed on me.

I would like to upgrade to the newest vbulletin, but I'm absolutely terrified of losing what I have thus far in terms of members/posts.

Can someone throw me a dingy and give me a simple step by step process of what needs to be done so that the upgrade goes without losing anything?

[Yes, I've read the instructions, but backing up everything seems to have me stuck (and fearful that if I've not done it correctly, I'll lose everything), which is why I asked the process of everyones backing up routine question]

Greatly appreciated.

What version are you upgrading to? Upgrading vbulletin simply relies on updating the templates as I understand it. Your database and members post shouldn't be affected.

3.6.7 to 3.6.8 w/update

there are a small amount of template edits, not very much at all.

Upload all the new files into the FTP, set to OVERWRITE.

then run the site.com/install/upgrade.php

click next about 6 times and your finished. also, be sure to remove the install folder when finished. template edits you just compare the old and the new, and vuala. hopefully you dont have a lot of styles ;)

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thanks for the response mike.

bare with me for a sec.

When I upload all the files into the the ftp, these files go into the forum section that I currently have? forum is on unitedzone.info/forum.

This in no way affects my posts/threads/members database? (my biggest concern)

Obviously I have to reinstall all my plugins.

There are a few template edits since my forum skin was modified. But I intend to scrap that skin and get some new ones.

Thank you all so much for baring with me. Once I get comfortable with all this, I'll be less of a noob around here.

You'll want to edit the config.php.new file before uploading all the files. ;)

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Nope. He has his config in there already. VBulletindoes not have a config.php by default, so it will not overwrite it.

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before all make sure you have a full back up from your forum, not only files but the database. Depending on what kind of system you are (cpanel,plesk or other) there should be something allowing to make a full backup to local disk .

next step is to make a list of all your plugins and look with the author if they need upgrade to be compatible with 3.6.8 though most will work ok.

fooling with the files doesn't affect your posts... those are stored in the database and that won't be touched until you start the upgrade routine mentioned by Mike. Mostly plugins are not affected by an upgrade, they are there and if well written (mostly) they just continue to work. In your case the upgrade is minor and they all should be fine

It is possible you need to edit templates a bit and or upgrade your template to latest to be 100% compatible with vb 3.6.8

And if you are really unsure, you might ask somewhere here to do it for you, some will help for free, some will ask a little fee depending on how hard it is.

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eric,

I definitely want to learn how to do it and I think it makes sense as the owner of the forum that I know how.

Mike has linked me to a hack which I'll add to my forum to backup my database locally before I upgrade to the newest vbulletin.

Thanks everyone for all the pointers and I'll let you know how it turns out. Will upgrade vbulletin Saturday evening.

Thanks everyone for your responses!