NetCommunity 7.0 does not support SQL Server 2008

Karen Bedard

I am unable to upgrade our NetCommunity software because the latest release, NetCommunity 7.0, does not support SQL Server 2008.  This release only supports SQL Server 2012 and SQL Server 2014.  In the past when Blackbaud has dropped support for a platform they normally gave at least 6 months notice to prepare for the change.  I feel that Blackbaud should test this software on SQL Server 2008 and certify this platform with NetCommunity 7.0 since they did not give any advance notice for this change.  I was hoping to upgrade NetCommunity to the latest release this summer and now will not be able to.  Is any one else in this boat?

Chris McGrane

I'm not suprised, Blackbaud has historically been terrible at updating their clients on things like this. We still never got an alert that the API that was released for free was revoked as part of a plan to increase revenue.


What is preventing you from updating to the latest SQL Server? If you need assistance with doing so, it should be seamless.


Chris M

Gregory McDaniel

Same boat for advance notice—communication about the requirements and release was mishandled for someone who relies on Blackbaud’s RSS and email.

 

In our case we’re okay on SQL, but they’re also weak on 7.0’s support of the previous version of Raiser's Edge:
Limited testing conducted with The Raiser’s Edge 7.93 and any issues encountered with The Raiser’s
Edge 7.93 will require upgrading to The Raiser’s Edge 7.95.

This is a problem for some split-hosted customers, forcing an acceleration of our upgrade timeline for our locally-installed Raiser's Edge.

 

Have you asked NetCommunity product management about the proportion of customers on each SQL version?  2008 is three versions back and lost mainstream support from Microsoft almost two years ago, but in this market it’s easy to imagine customers still on it.  The numbers and/or age must support the decision they made, and at that point developers were free to use new-to-2012 features, so at this point I wouldn’t expect them to test and certify on 2008.  But you should have been given the courtesy of a communication back when the decision was made.  

 

Chris McGrane

Not to mention it's been 4 days and no moderators / Blackbaud staff have gotten back to this person. I would say make a feature request to add 2008 support but it will likely be ignored like the rest of the community ideas.


Chris 

Pallavi Paranjape

Hi Karen,


In order to comply with current industry security standards we have made changes that no longer allow us to support SQL Server 2008 & SQL Server 2008 R2. We are currently working with your account executive to identify your options fr your organization to update to the latest version of NetCommunity. They will be reaching out to you soon to work with you on how you can best move forward with BBNC,


Best Regards,

Pallavi Paranjape

 

Pallavi Paranjape

Hi Gregory, performing comprehensive testing on the current version of Raiser’s Edge (7.95 in this instance) has been our standard practice for some time now. We recognize that this accelerates your timeline to update to 7.95, but by having as many of our clients on the latest version of RE, we’re able to provide better customer support and eliminate other inefficiencies presented by the need to comprehensively test and support integrations with multiple versions of RE. This allows us to move the product forward. If you’re interested in learning more about how we’re planning on moving NetCommunity forward, I’d encourage you to join us for this afternoon’s roadmap webinar at 1 p.m. EST: https://hello.blackbaud.com/CORP_10132_OnlineInteractive_BBNC_Roadmap_WSEM_05-18-16_LP.html


Regards,

Pallavi Paranjape

Gregory McDaniel:

Same boat for advance notice—communication about the requirements and release was mishandled for someone who relies on Blackbaud’s RSS and email.

 

In our case we’re okay on SQL, but they’re also weak on 7.0’s support of the previous version of Raiser's Edge:
Limited testing conducted with The Raiser’s Edge 7.93 and any issues encountered with The Raiser’s
Edge 7.93 will require upgrading to The Raiser’s Edge 7.95.

This is a problem for some split-hosted customers, forcing an acceleration of our upgrade timeline for our locally-installed Raiser's Edge.

 

Have you asked NetCommunity product management about the proportion of customers on each SQL version?  2008 is three versions back and lost mainstream support from Microsoft almost two years ago, but in this market it’s easy to imagine customers still on it.  The numbers and/or age must support the decision they made, and at that point developers were free to use new-to-2012 features, so at this point I wouldn’t expect them to test and certify on 2008.  But you should have been given the courtesy of a communication back when the decision was made.  

 

 

Gregory McDaniel

Although SQL 2008 lost Microsoft’s mainstream support, it still has its security support.  What security standards are you referring to?  In a few weeks TLS 1.2 will be required for PCI DSS 3.1 compliance, but that’s available for SQL 2008.

Victor Nuovo

Could somebody clarify something for me?


Does this refer to the SQL Server version used by NetCommunity, by Raiser's Edge, or both? Blackbaud hosts NetCommunity for us, but we host RE and RE is on SQL Server 2008. Do we need upgrade the SQL Server that we're using with RE, or are we OK since Blackbaud hosts NetCommunity for us and will therefor manage that version of SQL Server as appropriate? 


Thanks,

Victor

 

Tony Williams

Hi Victor,


These requirements would only be for Blackbaud NetCommunity. The Raiser's Edge will have separate system requirements specific to that software. As you are hosted, the system requirements for your BBNC installation will be maintained by Blackbaud. 


Thanks!

Victor Nuovo

Got it, thanks!

Gregory McDaniel

Karen, have a look at https://www.concoursehost.com/blog/netcommunity-7-0-upgrade-planning/ , just posted yesterday.  While not recommending doing so, he writes "I heard from an inside source at Blackbaud that NetCommunity 7.0 actually works fine on SQL 2008 R2. And probably it does."

Gregory McDaniel

Pallavi Paranjape:

Hi Gregory, performing comprehensive testing on the current version of Raiser’s Edge (7.95 in this instance) has been our standard practice for some time now. We recognize that this accelerates your timeline to update to 7.95, but by having as many of our clients on the latest version of RE, we’re able to provide better customer support and eliminate other inefficiencies presented by the need to comprehensively test and support integrations with multiple versions of RE. This allows us to move the product forward. If you’re interested in learning more about how we’re planning on moving NetCommunity forward, I’d encourage you to join us for this afternoon’s roadmap webinar at 1 p.m. EST: https://hello.blackbaud.com/CORP_10132_OnlineInteractive_BBNC_Roadmap_WSEM_05-18-16_LP.html


Regards,

Pallavi Paranjape

Gregory McDaniel:

Same boat for advance notice—communication about the requirements and release was mishandled for someone who relies on Blackbaud’s RSS and email.

 

In our case we’re okay on SQL, but they’re also weak on 7.0’s support of the previous version of Raiser's Edge:
Limited testing conducted with The Raiser’s Edge 7.93 and any issues encountered with The Raiser’s
Edge 7.93 will require upgrading to The Raiser’s Edge 7.95.

This is a problem for some split-hosted customers, forcing an acceleration of our upgrade timeline for our locally-installed Raiser's Edge.

 

Have you asked NetCommunity product management about the proportion of customers on each SQL version?  2008 is three versions back and lost mainstream support from Microsoft almost two years ago, but in this market it’s easy to imagine customers still on it.  The numbers and/or age must support the decision they made, and at that point developers were free to use new-to-2012 features, so at this point I wouldn’t expect them to test and certify on 2008.  But you should have been given the courtesy of a communication back when the decision was made.  

 

 

 

Sorry all, I didn’t mean to hijack this thread with the Raiser's Edge paragraph in my initial post.  It was just to note that SQL wasn’t the only dependency upgrade induced by the surprise NetCommunity release. 

 

Pallavi, of course it’s cheaper and faster to skip compatibility/testing with the previous version, but some of your installed base had this pushed on them with insufficient warning. 

 

As recently as 6.51 you certified for both 7.91 and 7.92.  We’d have to look at the NetCommunity upgrade dates since, know the proportion of split-hosted customers on the current vs. previous version of Raiser's Edge on those dates, and look at bugs/cases attributable to running the previous version, to know if that now “standard practice” is sound.  Even if it has been, a standard practice is your decision which merits review in non-standard circumstances.  The failure of 7.94 is why we’re cautious in moving to 7.95 which was only made available to us in February. 

 

Our Raiser's Edge conversation should not continue on this SQL Topic.  If you’d like to continue elsewhere please start with the proportion of split-hosted customers on 7.95 at the time of their upgrade—maybe the communication I would have expected just wasn’t warranted.  As in the conclusion of my original post, I don’t expect you to certify with 7.93 at this point, it’s just about looking out for customers and communicating. 

 

Chris McGrane

Or just securely open the payment endpoints so that developers can make their own solutions that comply with modern standards.