Do I need to renew license for forum to work?

[Petra Jane]

I see that my forum license is due to expire shortly.

however, as the server we are hosted on will not upgrade successfully to PHP8, the forum registration page fails, and as we have customised our forums, we can no longer update the forum software, if we allow the license to lapse, will the forums stop working or does the license simply allow us to access updates that we cannot install?

 

Thanks in advance for any clarification.

[Marc]

The forum will continue to work in its current state. You simply lose access to all IPS services, including updates, the IPS spam service, support etc.

I would point out, it would be worth ensuring the customisations are updated, and if needed move to a server that supports PHP 8. By running PHP 7, you are actually running a site that could potentially be compromised, as PHP 7 is no longer supported by PHP themselves for security fixes.

[Petra Jane]

Thanks Marc for the clarification.

yes, I am aware we do need to update server etc.

one other question, is it possible to download a fresh version, set that up off site, as it where, and get that working and transfer the database into the new, updated version please?

[Marc]

No. What you would do is move the site to the new machine (database and files, even if its not working because of PHP 8), then upload new files and run the upgrader

[Petra Jane]

Thanks Marc, that makes sense.