I'm not going to say what module this was or where it came from as the developer has now released a fixed version but I have had a module that was updated (used for a good 9 months or so) kill my DNN, and near cripple the business I have been building for the last year plus.

The problem with this one was it left no errors whatsoever in DNN, and the server event log errors were leading to it being an IIS or .NET framework error.  I've had 3 paid MCSEs/MCPs to work on it (3rd managed to identify error was somewhere in DNN), lost plenty of business, reputation damaged, data lost (one guy redid server without checking backups) and so on.  I suppose someone can imagine the effects of this on a small online membership based business.

I went through quite a lot to try and sort this as can be seen:

http://www.rentacoder.com/RentACoder/misc/BidRequests/ShowBidRequest.asp?lngBidRequestId=936261
http://www.rentacoder.com/RentACoder/misc/BidRequests/ShowBidRequest.asp?lngBidRequestId=941535
http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1475819&page=1
http://www.dotnetnuke.com/Community/Forums/tabid/795/forumid/108/threadid/229794/scope/posts/Default.aspx

Now the developer knows there was a problem, and when I realised his module had done this and he had released a new version (with no emails sent out to say this solved the previous error), he made no apology, ignored the problems it had caused and simply said how to get his 'bad' module version out of there.

After all of that, I am starting to wonder what others might think and do.  I know I will have to read into the terms of his products and he's probably covered in many ways - but to realise there is an error, say nothing, release the module (he did release beta previously which I didn't touch) - I just feel he could have said something much earlier and saved me time, money, heartache - but then not to even apologise.

If possible, I would suggest that you try to setup a separate environment with a copy of the live site to test any new modules and any upgrades.  If you have 3rd party modules, testing DNN upgrades is also important.   If all works well on a test environment, you have reduced your risks, but still use great caution when applying to the live site by backing up everything just prior to installing.   I have had some surprises during test in the past, so I think it is a good practice, worth the cost of mainatining a test site. 

A test environment, with as close of a copy to production as possible will greatly reduce the risks to your business.

Thanks everyone for the advice, comments and support.

I'm still not getting forum notifications - so never know when to come back to read and reply!

I received a subscription renewal notice from the Developer this week - to which I responded quite firmly.  I did get a reply, saying sorry I felt they had a negative tone and weren't providing support. Then saying when I told them the problem they did respond quickly.

Although I use their modules a bit, I won't (and can't) continue paying a subscription after this so I will just leave the latest versions as is and look for other or custom solutions to replace these in the future.  Unfortunately I'm not a developer and I have limited human resources available here that can help.

I did have a test environment running before (same server but different DNN instance and database) - but when this happened it was scrapped to clear up as much as possible in attempts to get it working and identify the problem.

Had been taking back-ups, though some of these failed before one guy cleared it... bearing in mind we couldn't identify this module as being the culprit so going through backups we weren't sure how far back to go.

The bit that surprises me, and I do have to agree backups and a test environment are key items to running smoothly, is this spat up no errors from within DNN, killed .NET2 (both test & live environments) and the timing of it happening didn't show what it could have been.  How does one truly protect against that?  Of course we don't have any real programmers/developers here but I sought advice, provided details and then proceeded to contract 3 MCSE/MCP/Developers before someone could start to narrow down the problem (and had no knowledge of DNN at the time).

Overall I just think it was a very unfortunately position, and something people using DNN should be aware can happen.  It did cost me a lot in money, lost income, reputation and most of all time (3 weeks down and then recovery which is almost done now - technically).

After going through that, one would hope the developer would show a little more interest than very short support emails asking what version and suggesting installation of the latest version.

Many thanks again.

David