Jun 8

Posted by: Will Morgenweck
6/8/2007 2:31 PM

When DotNetNuke released version 4.5, we decided that the next version of Active Forums would only support DotNetNuke 4.5 and higher. Why? Because it's the best release we have seen yet and offers some of the latest technology functions that we can leverage in our products. If you haven't upgraded yet, why not?

What I find really amazing is that we have had a handful of new customers purchase Active Forums 3.7 only to find out that they are stuck on an older version of DotNetNuke. DotNetNuke 3.x hasn't seen a release since 11/30/2006 and that was marked as the final release for ASP.NET 1.1.

Let's look at some reasons you could be stuck on an older version and how to avoid them.

You modified the DotNetNuke Core.
I have some very strong opinions about modifying the Core so take them as you like. Why would you possibly want to modify the Core? Aside from possibly fixing bugs, why would you make a change to an application that will prevent you from upgrading in the future? Since the beginning of DotNetNuke, I have deployed well over 100 custom DotNetNuke solutions. Never once did I have to modify the Core. I never encountered a situation that could not be handled with a third-party module, custom module, skin object or in the skin itself. If you are going to customize DotNetNuke, then you should go ahead and build everything custom or be ready to buy source for all your third-party modules. Honestly, if you think you need to modify the Core then you should take a step back and re-evaluate your solution. You don't need to modify the Core!

You have built a custom module that is going to break when you upgrade.
Fair enough. Open your project back up. Change the reference to DotNetNuke 4.5 and see what breaks, then fix it. The largest amount of breaking changes for modules had to be from version 2.1.2 to 3.0. You name it and it was changed. Even still, in just a few hours you could have your module back up and running under the latest version.

The developer who built my custom module has gone missing.
Even better reason to take the time to upgrade. Your module not only depends on DotNetNuke, but also ASP.NET, IIS, Windows Server and SQL Server. Eventually something will change that will break your module. Wouldn't you like to take action to prevent yourself from ending up in a crisis situation? Find a DotNetNuke Developer that can help you fix the module and get your site upgraded. The investment now would be minimal compared to when something breaks and brings down your whole site.

My hosting provider only supports DotNetNuke X.X.
Find a new hosting provider! Seriously, if your hosting provider can't even stay up-to-date with a web application like DotNetNuke what makes you think they are keeping their servers up-to-date. There are numerous hosting providers specializing in DotNetNuke and some will even help you move your site and upgrade.

People on the DotNetNuke forums are saying there are problems with the upgrade.
Let's all agree on one thing, even Microsoft releases software with bugs. Not every release is going to be perfect, but that doesn't mean the bugs will affect you. I try to read almost every post about upgrade/install problems on the DNN Forums because it provides insight as to what our customers may experience. I would say that the majority of upgrade problems that I have seen come from configuration problems to begin with. This could be as simple as permission on your DotNetNuke folders or your server encountering a resource problem during the upgrade process. I still have several sites that started as DotNetNuke 2.x and have been upgrade all the way to DNN 4.5, without problems. I always make a complete back up of my site and database before applying any upgrade. In some cases I will even create a completely new website instance just for the upgrade. You could always find a hosting provider or consultant to help you with the upgrade.


Don't get stuck.
There are so many reasons you should stay up-to-date with the latest version of any software application you are using. Security problems, bugs, performance issues are all problems that could have a negative impact on your site. Staying current with the latest release helps you protect your website investment and in most cases, your business.

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