If your organization is currently running its websites on Umbraco 7, you probably already know that it's time for an upgrade. If you didn't, it's important to understand that Umbraco has issued its End of Life (EOL) notice for version 7 of their software. This means that after September 30th, 2023, if your website is running on Umbraco 7, Umbraco will no longer work on or maintain features, and will no longer release fixes for bugs, regressions, or security issues. Furthermore, Umbraco does not recommend hosting websites running on Umbraco 7 after that time.
As with any software platform, Umbraco requires upgrades to support the latest technologies, web browsers, user needs, etc. Not only has Umbraco been forced to update to stay current with the underlying technologies that run its platform (namely Microsoft .NET), but it also had to evolve its core feature set to meet user demands. Many of these new features require modern technology to support them. Umbraco 7 is currently over a decade old which in "software years" is more like 100 years old. You should immediately start wondering about its stability, scalability, and security.
Upgrading your Umbraco 7 website requires the correct strategy and guidance. Don’t be fooled by the promise that you can directly upgrade your website from Umbraco version 7 to Umbraco version 13. The reality is a lot more complicated. Let me explain at a high level what that means.
You are probably thinking to yourself right now that this sounds complicated, expensive, and scary. You may also be wondering why you wouldn't just keep your website running on Umbraco 7 because it's working fine for your organization. Let's explore that a little.
The straightforward answer is yes, it is possible. However, it's not recommended as it could lead to serious problems. One of the major concerns is the lack of support and updates from Umbraco. Additionally, hosting could also pose a challenge. Your website is not just a website, it's a combination of your website platform (Umbraco CMS 7), and its hosting servers (running an old version of Microsoft Windows). There will come a time very soon when you will no longer be able to utilize the hosting servers that your Umbraco 7 website runs on today because Microsoft won't support the operating system required to run Umbraco 7. In turn, your hosting provider won't allow you to use their servers any longer because they can't risk the security liability of running an unsupported operating system. When that time comes, you'll be in a real predicament. You won't have anywhere to migrate your website's hosting to, and you'll need to make an hurried decision on a path forward without the luxury of a meaningful strategy.
When it comes to upgrading your Umbraco 7 website, there are really two options.
Option 1: Upgrade your Umbraco 7 database + re-develop your website
As mentioned above, it is “technically” possible to upgrade your Umbraco 7 database to a newer Umbraco CMS version and this is the path that some organizations are taking. While this doesn't mitigate the requirement to completely re-develop the website’s templates and integrations on a newer version of Umbraco CMS, it does theoretically create a scenario where you may not need to migrate all of your website's content along with the website rebuild. While this may seem like a logical choice, we don't recommend it for several reasons:
At the end of the day, no one wants to use a glitchy and/or buggy Content Management System (CMS).
Option 2: Re-develop your website on a fresh install of an updated version of Umbraco and import any structured content
Whether you decide to go with Option 1 or Option 2, the commonality is that the website itself needs to be re-developed from the ground up. You may be able to repurpose the website's existing CSS/HTML framework but all of the website’s templates and integrations will need to be re-developed to support the newer versions of Umbraco. There are several advantages to Option 2 over Option 1:
As mentioned previously, if you’re currently running Umbraco 7, your website will continue to function after the official end of life on September 30th, 2023, but now is the time to start considering your next steps. Your website will need to be re-developed and don’t let anyone tell you different. But there are options and varying factors that will affect the scale of the effort. It may seem daunting to think about all these moving pieces, but if you have the strategy and a knowledgeable partner like Diagram, it's not as scary as it seems.
To schedule a conversation to speak with Chris, our SVP of Strategy, just click the link below.