I was wondering if it is possible to upgrade DS directly from v8.7 to v11.7? Or is it necessary to upgrade to jump version (e.g v9.1) and then upgrade to v11.7.
We have been using the old version for some time now and this has been a lingering question in the group here. We are looking to get the upgraded functionality of 11.7 but are not sure if it will require upgrading to the jump version first.
we have done many such upgrades from 8.x to various higher versions (9 and 11.3 / 11.5). There is no need to do a "intermediary" upgrade, you can go from 8.x to 11.7. As you are aware, anything lower than 11.3 does not offer in place upgrades.
I would suggest to follow a strategy of exporting all the jobs and settings / message handlers etc and then doing a complete clean install. You have the option to do this on a new server, or, backup and install on your current one.
Once done you can then recreate the projects, import the jobs, amend settings and handlers.
Be aware that between versions things like message handlers may change, settings in DSParams may be slightly different. With importing the jobs it is always a good idea to recompile to ensure there are no issues with the latest version.
Things you may notice: more errors / warnings, such as truncation or type conversions, this is due to older versions of DS not reporting this, but in the newer 9.x and 11.x's these are now announced. Null handling is different (there is a legacy option you can add for example) and some other minor changes. It is a good idea to do a full regression test.