Compatibility Guide and Upgrade Planning

This page provides a table listing support for the third party applications that are required to run PhixFlow at major releases:

A database server
An application server
Java runtime environment
A web browser (on the client side)

The table below also includes any special upgrade instructions that you should be aware of when planning to migrate to a new version. Please check for all special instructions between your current version and the new version. While the upgrade process for PhixFlow itself is quick, please use the table below to determine if you need to plan, with your IT department, upgrades to any other software.

PhixFlow Major Version	Databases Supported			Tomcat	Java Runtime	Browsers			Special upgrade instructions
PhixFlow Major Version	Oracle	MS SQL Server	Maria DB	Tomcat	Java Runtime	IE¹	Chrome²	Firefox²	Special upgrade instructions
7.8	12c (12.1)	2017 2016	10.1	8.5	8	11	66	59	Mandatory: Upgrade to SQL Server 2016 or later. Mandatory: There are incompatible changes at 7.8.0 to the webapp configuration files in $webapp/WEB-INF/classes - simply copying the configuration files from an earlier release will not work. We recommend that you create new configuration files by copying the relevant templates and re-applying the necessary changes. See the release notes for more information on the changes and files affected.
7.7	12c (12.1)	2017 2016 2014 2008	10.1	8.5	8	11	66	59	We will support SQL Server 2008 until the end of 2018. At this point support for this database will be ended. Mandatory: Upgrade to Java 1.8.0_151 or later and ensure that Java is configured to allow unlimited-strength security; see Install Java for details.
7.6	12c (12.1)	2017 2016 2014 2008	10.1	8.5	8	11	66	59	Mandatory: Upgrade to Oracle 12c Mandatory: Upgrade to MariaDB 10.1 We will support SQL Server 2008 until the end of 2018. At this point support for this database will be ended.
7.5	12c (12.1) 11g	2016 2014 2012 2008	10.1 10.0	8.5	8	11	63	58	Advisory: If using Oracle upgrade to version 12c.
7.4	12c (12.1) 11g	2016 2014 2012	10.1 10.0	8.5	8	11	62	56	If using Oracle 12c, update the phixflow-datasource.xml file to resolve an issue that can affect configuration imports; see Oracle 12c - edit phixflow-datasource.xml for details. Excel File Collectors must quote worksheet names if they contain spaces and/or single quotes. This is not handled automatically by the upgrade process. See special notes for Excel file collectors at 7.4.0 for details.
7.3	12c (12.1) 11g	2016 2014 2012	10.1 10.0	8.5	8	11	60	55	Mandatory: Upgrade to Tomcat 8.5
7.2	12c (12.1) 11g	2016 2014 2012	10.1 10.0	8.5 8 7	8	11	55	50	If using SQL Server, you need to update the SQLServer dialect specified in the `phixflow-datasource.xml` file. See: Release 7.2.0
7.1	12c (12.1) 11g	2016 2014 2012	10.1 10.0	8.5 8 7	8	11 10	55	50	Advisory: Upgrade to Tomcat 8.5 Advisory: If using Oracle upgrade to version 12c.
7.0	12c (12.1) 11g	2016 2014 2012	10.1 10.0	8.5 8 7	8	11 10	53	47	Mandatory: Install Java 8. Advisory: Upgrade to Tomcat 8.5 Advisory: If using Oracle upgrade to version 12c.
6.0	12c (12.1) 11g	2008 R2	10.1 10.0	8 7	7	8.0	53	47
5.9	12c (12.1) 11g	2008 R2	-	8 7	7	8.0	-	-	Please see additional special upgrade instructions for this release at Upgrade 5.9.0
5.8	11g	2008 R2	-	7	7	8.0	-	-

¹ The use of IE with PhixFlow version 7.0 onwards (i.e. with the Javascript GUI) is not recommended. The GUI has full functionality in this browser, but does not perform as well as in Chrome and Firefox.

²We support all versions of Chrome and Firefox released in the 2 years prior to the release date. The versions tested at the time of each release are listed here. Should you have any problems with an earlier version than that listed, but within 2 years of the release date, or a later version than that listed, please contact the PhixFlow support desk.