Update the ISPConfig Perfect Server from Debian 11 to Debian 12

This tutorial will take you through updating a server managed by ISPConfig from Debian 11 (bullseye) to Debian 12 (bookworm). This guide works for both single- and multiserver setups. Just repeat the same steps on every server.

Be aware that the update process may cause some downtime.

Prerequisites

• Make sure you’re logged in as root user

1. Updating the system from Debian 11 to Debian 12

Please go through the guide on updating Debian itself first: https://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-upgrade-from-debian-11-to-debian-12/

2. Install missing PHP packages

Debian 12 ships with PHP 8.2 as the default PHP version, so we have to install it:
apt-get install php8.2 php8.2-cli php8.2-cgi php8.2-fpm php8.2-gd php8.2-mysql php8.2-imap php8.2-curl php8.2-intl php8.2-pspell php8.2-sqlite3 php8.2-tidy php8.2-xsl php8.2-zip php8.2-mbstring php8.2-soap php8.2-opcache libonig5 php8.2-common php8.2-readline php8.2-xml curl

Don’t forget to adjust the PHP config files if necessary.

If you still want to use PHP 7.4 for some websites, install it as an additional version by following https://www.howtoforge.com/ispconfig-php-debian/

4. Run a force update of ISPConfig

To reconfigure the services so they are correctly configured for Debian 12, we need to run the ISPConfig update script and let it reconfigure services. Run the script from the command line with
ispconfig_update.sh --force

Go through the update steps. When asked whether you want to reconfigure services or not, hit enter. If you skip this step by answering “no”, ISPConfig won’t configure your services for Debian 12 and some services might be broken.

5. Update paths to use PHP 8.2 as default PHP version

As PHP 8.2 is the default PHP version shipped with Debian 12, we need to update the PHP paths in ISPConfig.

Log in to the panel as admin user and then go to System -> Server Config -> server1.example.com (the hostname of your server) -> Web -> PHP Settings

Replace the references to 7.4 to 8.2, so it looks like this:
Apache php.ini path: /etc/php/8.2/apache2/php.ini
CGI php.ini path: /etc/php/8.2/cgi/php.ini
PHP-FPM init script: php8.2-fpm
PHP-FPM php.ini path: /etc/php/8.2/fpm/php.ini
PHP-FPM pool directory: /etc/php/8.2/fpm/pool.d
PHP-FPM socket directory: /var/lib/php8.2-fpm

Be aware that all websites on this server that use the PHP version “Default” will now use PHP 8.2 instead of the old version.

We also have to let the system use PHP 8.2 as the default PHP handler for non-ISPConfig actions. To do this, run:
update-alternatives --config php

If you need to select a PHP version, select PHP 8.2. Then, run
update-alternatives --config php-cgi

If you need to select a PHP version, select PHP 8.2 as well. Lastly, run
update-alternatives --config php-fpm.sock

If you need to select a PHP version, select PHP 8.2 again.

For servers with Apache2 installed, we have to disable PHP-FPM 7.4 as the default PHP handler and enable PHP-FPM 8.2 by running these commands:
a2disconf php7.4-fpm
a2enconf php8.2-fpm
systemctl restart apache2

6. Update phpMyAdmin (optional)

If you have phpMyAdmin installed, we recommend updating your install as many users have an outdated version installed.

Run this command to run our phpMyAdmin update script:
curl https://git.ispconfig.org/ispconfig/tools/-/raw/master/auto_update_phpmyadmin.sh -sL | sh

You can keep phpMyAdmin updated automatically from now on by using this same script. See this forum post for more information: https://www.howtoforge.com/community/threads/keep-your-phpmyadmin-installation-up-to-date-automatically.88495/

We’re done! If you have any problems, open a thread on the forum.