I am responsible for a site using DNN for an internal web site.  While the total number of users for this site is pretty low, they all simultaneously go crazy when it so much as hiccups.  I need to upgrade to version 4.3.6 to take advantage of some of the new features available.

Now, the site uses Oracle as the DB server, using the AcuitiDP Oracle Data Provider from SnowCovered.com, and due to a problem a few weeks ago with the license that took the site down for about 36 (very tense) hours, I'm a little gun-shy about upgrading the site.

Luckily, we're in the process of moving the site to a new server (servers, really...we're sharing space on another department's farm).  The code has all been copied from the existing server to the new server farm, and that site is now up and running.  My plan was to take this opportunity to upgrade the site on the new servers before we "throw the switch" and start sending traffic to the new servers.  For a short time, my plan was to have both a 4.0 site (the existing site), and the 4.3 site (new site on web server farm) up and running at the same time while I test out 4.3.

However, in reading through the upgrade instructions, it looks like there may be modifications to the database.  I haven't looked under the hood at the inner workings of DNN that much, but I'm worried that I can't have two different versions of the software running against the same database.

Can anyone tell me if I risk breaking the existing site if I run an upgrade to 4.3.6 on another server that uses the same database?  If this won't work, can anyone offer any other suggestions on how to make this upgrade as smooth as possible?  Failing that, can you offer me a pep talk and tell me that my whole weekend won't be spent trying to get this web site up and running again after I run the upgrade?

Thanks in advance.

Ok, that's what I was afraid of.  Thanks for the tip.  It looks like I'll have to "throw the switch" and then upgrade the new server.

I don't have a lot of access to the DB itself, as it's hosted in the company's datacenter about 6 states away from me, and I only have a limited Oracle login.  The web server is an even worse situation, as it's on a server farm that I'm barely even allowed to know about (it's not really that bad, but it feels that way).

I'll just have to do this on the weekend when only a few people are using the site, in case the upgrade fails and I need to roll it back.

Thanks for the help.