"Public site is unavailable until the upgrade completes"

[robertwgehl]

Hello! I got a "Zend_Session_Exception error similar to here: "Zend_Session_Exception"

I was quite certain my hosting company upgraded PHP, and since there was no way to go back a version, I decided to upgrade Omeka to 2.8.

I followed the instructions (https://omeka.org/classic/docs/Installation/Upgrading/). However, I could not disable plugins because of the Zend error. So, I replaced all the files (except the “files” folder and db.ini) with the new version, but I could not disable plugins.

While the Zend error is gone, now my site says “Public site is unavailable until the upgrade completes”.

Should I run the installer? Go back to the previous version? Any advice appreciated.

[robertwgehl]

Hi, all – I waited a few days for answers on this, and decided to go ahead and go to the installer. At that point, the admin panel was available and I got the prompt to upgrade the database. I assumed that the upgrade prompt would appear automatically, but it only appeared on the “install” page.

Regardless, now my project is working again!

So, if you get a Zend_Session_Exception error that you believe is caused by a change in underlying PHP version, you might try:

• upgrading per the guide (https://omeka.org/classic/docs/Installation/Upgrading/)
• change your URL to URL/install
• Click on “go to admin panel”
• follow the prompt to upgrade database

That did the job for me.

[jflatnes]

Yes, you had it correct at the end there: when you upgrade Omeka, it’s normal behavior for it to display “public site is unavailable” on the front end. At that point you have to go to the admin side at “/admin” to upgrade the database and complete the upgrade.