# Upgrades | View Changelog

Before You Upgrade
Before commencing any upgrade, make sure you have a full backup of your existing system, including a schematic backup of your current database. In the event of something going wrong, you can always revert your database back and try again. See below.

NOTE: When upgrading, the system will go offline until the upgrade is completed, so any API calls will fail during this time.
Versions
You can upgrade from any previous version of Maian Affiliate. To view your current version, log into your affiliate admin area and view the version number OR go into your database and view the software version in the settings table. The upgrade routines will check your version number.
Any version prior to 2.0 is not compatible with the templates/themes, due to the introduction of the Latte Template Engine. All template changes will be reset and overwritten.
Backups
Backing up your data is vitally important. There are two things you need to back up before upgrading:
1 Your file structure. So, everything in your affiliate folder. The easiest way is to use the copy command on your server.
cp -rf /affiliate/ /backupfolder/
2 Your database schema. There are many utilities that make this easy and some are listed here. You can also use the database backup option in your Maian Affiliate admin area.
How To Upgrade
1 Backup current structure and database schema (see above).
2 Download latest version of Maian Affiliate and unzip contents.
3 From the download zip REMOVE the following if you are NOT using the free version:
licence.lic
4 If the 'control/_cfg.php' file does not exist in your installation, copy the '_control/_cfg-sample.php' as 'control/_cfg.php' and complete the options in the file. You can copy the information from the old 'control/connect.php' file. Note that your admin login details are here now too, so copy the info from your existing 'admin/control/access.php' file or simply enter new login details in the new '_cfg.php' file.
5 Upload all other files to your server to overwrite existing files.
6 Access the upgrade file in your browser and follow the instructions to update your database.
https://www.example.com/affiliate/install/upgrade.php
7 Once completed, delete or rename the 'install' folder.
8 IMPORTANT: If you have translated language files OR used a custom theme, refer to the version appendix for changes that you will need to implement in your theme. New language files may also be available for the new version and these should be translated and copied to your language folder.
9 View Changelog to see what is new in the latest version.
Upgrade complete, hope you like the new version.
Problems?
Please see the support options.