Netcommunity upgrade: update

I managed to upgrade Netcommunity & Raiser's Edge successfully on our test server. It's not particularly tricky, it just takes a long time. Staying on Windows Server 2003 slightly complicates things, but not much.

I'd definitely recommend doing it in a test environment first, though, as it did take a little while to go through and sort everything out.

I've documented everything I did, which I'll upload soon - right now I am busy preparing for the live upgrade, which is happening next week.

For now, here are some tips for if you're upgrading in a test environment - they should save you a bit of hassle:

• Back everything up (obv)
• Upgrade Netcommunity before Raiser's Edge
• Be prepared to wait for ages whilst BBNC updates
• If you're using Windows Server 2003, once BBNC is upgraded, run the AppFx config utility (in the Blackbaud program files folder). Select the Add Users function, and add NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE as a database administrator user. Otherwise you will get permissions errors.
• Use the testconfig.aspx page - if everything on there has a green light, there shouldn't be much more to do. http://localhost/netcommunity/testconfig.aspx
• Check the web.config files in BBNC root folder, AppFx\vroot folder, and the various web service / plugin folders in the Blackbaud program files folder if you're getting errors.
• When you set up a default site, BBNC requires a URL to a 'valid Netcommunity installation'. Putting in the IP address or hostname of your test server won't work - instead, edit the Windows HOSTS file (Start > Run > "drivers" > etc > hosts) and put the following on a new line:
  
  127.0.0.1 http://www.bbnctest.com
  
  Enter http://www.bbnctest.com/netcommunity/ as your valid URL.