Upgrading to IPS4 and migration from cloud to self-hosted

[Rafael Grecco]

Hello,

I have a few questions about upgrading from V3 to V4 and migration from cloud to self hosted:

1 - Currently my board is running version 3.4.8 on cloud service. Do you recommend upgrading to IPS4 on the cloud and then migrate to self-hosted, or first migrate using version 3.4.8 and then upgrading to IPS4?

2- I understand that the upgrade to IPS4 resets my board customization (themes and stuff). What happens to pluggins? My board accepts login using Facebook, Tweeter, Microsoft Live.... will it work? What will happen to users that use those tools to login?

3- What about other plugins like sidebars, extra blocks, reputation system, etc. Will it be wiped, having all info erased (for example, points on the reputation system)?

4- About self-hosted: I work at a IT company and I have several IIS servers available to use, I also have MS SQL and MySQL available to use. What do you recommend: Should I use what I have available or should I build a new virtual server using linux/apache and mysql? Where does IPS work better? The problem is that I have very little knowledge of linux systems...

Thanks!