“End of life” for Drupal 7
As you may already know, Drupal 7 will be deemed “end of life” on 28 November 2022. But what does this actually mean? For those of you who are wondering, it simply means that the Drupal team will no longer release any security updates for core and contributed modules.
It doesn’t mean that on the 29th of November 2022 your website will suddenly become insecure but if any vulnerabilities are found and published, the hackers can get in very easily and there will be very little you can do to stop them.
Why’s this happening? Well, Drupal 7 has been around since early 2011
Many of you with Drupal sites might be wondering what you should do. Don't worry there are many options available. First of all, ask yourself how you feel about your website, has Drupal served you well, do you enjoy using it, do you come up against any limitations?
If it is the ideal platform for your site then you can consider extended support from an accredited agency (it’s not a low-cost approach though), or the longer-term recommendation of a migration to Drupal 8, 9 or whatever comes afterwards.
If you’re wondering what options there are other than Drupal you’re in luck, there’s a plethora of platforms to consider, but keep in mind any platform has its pros and cons - you might ditch one set of concerns only to find a new set with your next site!
For those with small brochure sites it’s likely that Drupal may be overkill and moving to something lighter is definitely worth considering. Large websites with custom code including modules you will probably be best sticking with newer versions of Drupal - yes there’s a build cost in terms of effort involved, but at least your systems are already working in a “Drupal way”:
It’s going to be easier to migrate the data from Drupal 7 to 8 or 9 than to any other platform. The structure of the content types and taxonomies is going to be the same. All content types you’ve been using can be recreated on your new site.
You can make use of the same third-party modules (assuming they’ve been updated) for your additional functionality. Many modules that have been 3rd party on Drupal 7 are either core in Drupal 8 / 9 OR have an updated version for Drupal 8 / 9. Sticking with the same platform will allow you to restore key functionality and save you time and effort compared to starting from scratch.
Your team managing the content is already used to the admin interface, they know where to find most of the things they need. Drupal 8 / 9 admin area is very similar to what you have in Drupal 7 but with a very welcome, slicker and improved design.
You already know what to expect, what the capabilities and limitations of Drupal are.
"Upgrade" from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 or 9
"Upgrading" from Drupal 7 to 8 / 9 might seem like the obvious and most simple option to many people. But what a Drupal 7 "upgrade" actually is? Is it the case of a few button clicks?
Well, it’s not that simple. Drupal 7 to 8 or 9 migration is essentially a complete website rebuild. Once you’re on Drupal 8 or above, future upgrades should be far simpler than this one you are facing.
But don’t let the words site rebuild scare you, as long as you plan everything in advance you’ve got nothing to worry about. As we mentioned earlier, you’ll be able to make use of the same modules, re-construct your taxonomies and content types.
