Upgrade Ubuntu or start fresh?

General questions
1

I would like to upgrade my Matomo host, from Ubuntu 14.04 to 18.04. Will I break Matomo if I attempt a standard distribution upgrade? How should I answer the questions about using default or existing configuration files that are asked during the upgrade (like for php, etc.)?

I originally installed as Piwik, then updated to Matomo. If I rebuild Matomo from the ground up on Ubuntu 18.04, I’m afraid I will need to change the info that gets attached to every web page which enables analytics collection (since it now would mention Matomo rather than Piwik) which I don’t know how to do, as I’m not really a web developer. We’re a non-profit and don’t currently have a developer available.

2

Hi,

Both should be possible. The most important thing (independent of Matomo) is to have backups available and knowing how to restore them.

But I think the easiest way (if you have the resources) is to set up a new server running 18.04, get PHP, MySQL/MariaDB and your webserver running there, then move the database (and Matomo files) from the old server to the new one (this way Matomo will keep all data, settings, etc.) and after you made sure the new server works fine, just switch the domain, so that the old URL points to the new server.