Frequently asked questions - BowTieXP Enterprise version 12.4

BowTieXP Enterprise normally uses Microsoft’s ASP.NET Core Identity cookie-based authentication and enforces HTTPS (TLS) for secure transmission. Alternatively, you can use Windows authentication (if all your users are in a domain), Azure Active Directory, or OpenID Connect.

The latter three allow for more complex authentication scenarios (such as single sign-on and two-factor authentication).  How the database is secured is up to the IT department of the customer doing the deployment. We recommend using an encrypted database connection between BowTieXP Enterprise (in IIS) and SQL Server. Server configuration and hardening are also up to the IT department of the customer.

You will need to contact Microsoft about this as this is a complex subject matter and dependent on many variables, such as, but not limited to:

• Which version and edition of the operating system you will run.
• Which version and edition of the database you will run.
• How many servers you will deploy - one web server and one database server, or both on a single machine, or perhaps a redundant setup, or perhaps a farm?
• How many users you will have – perhaps SQL Server per CPU licensing is most cost-effective, perhaps CALs are most cost-effective.
• What kind of hardware you will have for your database server? How many CPUs?
• If you can reuse existing servers and licenses by BowTieXP Enterprise to an existing database server and web server.

Please contact Microsoft for advice on what you will need.

No, BowTieXP Enterprise must be installed into a site root. Note that you can have multiple websites on the same server, but you must have a dedicated website for BowTieXP Enterprise (within IIS).

BowTieXP Enterprise already offers the possibility to run an executable in order to work with it. When you download the .zip file from our download page and unpack the contents you will see there is a bowtieserver.exe available. We run on .Net core and with a little bit of configuration (e.g. defining the database in appsettings.json) you can use bowtieserver.exe. However, the CLI can change each version so we do not recommend to document it.

Without a valid Support & Maintenance contract, you are not entitled to upgrade and update to your license, which will eventually cause compatibility issues. However, the Support & Maintenance contract can be renewed even if the old contract has expired for a while, but we do calculate a re-entry fee to cover for the period where there wasn’t a valid Support & Maintenance contract in place.

Please contact us at [email protected] for more information about renewing your Support & Maintenance contract.

Our application relies on the Microsoft .NET framework and the version we are currently using (.NET 6) will go out of support per November 12, 2024. In response to Microsoft's end support planning for .NET 6, we are aligning our software accordingly. 

A potential security vulnerability has also been brought to our attention. You can find more details here: CVE-2024-21319. A security patch is present in version 12.4 of BowtieXP Enterprise.

On top of that, we continuously work on improving our software by updating and adding new features that better fit your needs. You can find our release note for v12.4 here: BowTieXP Enterprise version 12 service pack 4

Failure to upgrade to version 12.4 or a later version may result in security and software issues, and regrettably, we won't be able to provide support for older versions.

Indeed, it does. BowTieServer is the former designation of the software, thus the upgrade applies to your system as well. Please note that the URL you currently use to access the software (ending with .bowtierserver.com) may transition to a BowTieXP Enterprise URL (ending with .enablon.io or .enablon.io/bowtie).

We have identified a security vulnerability in our prior versions of BowTieXP Enterprise. Further details can be found here: CVE-2024-21319.

 To safeguard against any potential negative repercussions, we strongly advise upgrading as soon as possible to version 12.4 of our software. This will fix the security issue.

Additionally, before you upgrade and in the event of an attack, a partial risk mitigation can be achieved through auto-restart of the service and auto-provisioning of the Azure App.

• If you are a Cloud Customer and you have support and maintenance license, the upgrade will be managed by our team. Please contact  Lukasz at [email protected] so he can schedule a meeting and start the upgrade process.
• If you are an On-premise Customer (BowTieXP Enterprise is hosted by your IT department) and you have a support and maintenance license: You will need to upgrade to .NET8 and follow the guidelines we have provided to you by email. If you have not receive it, please contact us at [email protected] and we will provide the necessary support.
• If you are a Cloud or a On premise Customer and do not have a support and maintenance license:  you will need to renew your support and Maintenance license to have access to the new upgrade and support. Please contact us at [email protected].

No. We have provided comprehensive guide in our Installation manual on how to perform the upgrade, the support team will only be on standby to go on the call if you have some questions during the upgrade.

We have summarised all of the additional features and changes to BowTieXP Enterprise in the release note for v12.4. You can find it here:BowTieXP Enterprise version 12 service pack 4.

If you want to stay aware of future release notes, you can subscribe to our newsletters.

To ensure compatibility with BowTieXP Enterprise after the upgrade, your desktop must be running on version 12.

If you have any plug-in please:

• If you are a cloud customer, please mention it to Lukasz (at [email protected]) when you contact him to schedule a meeting to start the upgrade process.
• If you are an on-premise customer, please mention it to our support team (at [email protected]) so they can advice you on it.

Yes, the upgrade should not impact their activity. If you find any issue please contact our support team (at [email protected]). 

Yes of course, our team is here to help you. The upgrade will be done by you. However, if you have any questions or issues during the process, please contact us at [email protected] and one of our team members will reach back in 24 hours.

BowTieXP Enterprise requires the following:

• A connection to a supported database (Microsoft SQL Server 2016 or newer1) with:
  •  A CI (case insensitive) collation.
  • Rights to read data, write data, modify the schema, and execute functions.
  • Optionally db_owner rights to allow the end user to maintain database indices.
  • Snapshot isolation and read_committed_snapshot enabled on the database.
  • SQL Server authentication2 enabled.

• Windows Server 2016 or newer, with desktop experience. Only 64-bits OSes are supported.

• IIS installed.
  • You require an SSL certificate for the IIS server. BowTieXP Enterprise requires HTTPS communication.
  • BowTieXP Enterprise must be installed into the site root.

• The .NET Core Hosting Bundle 8.0 installed.
• Optional: Access to an SMTP server to send emails.
• Optional: Server as a domain member server to enable Windows Authentication single sign-on and AD sync.
• Optional: various AD (Active Directory) groups to hold various users in roles.

All the details are also available in the manual for version 12.4. 

We understand that this might pose a substantial effort on your side, that is why our team is ready to help and support you. We highly recommend that you upgrade but of course, it is completely up to you if you decide not to.

However, be aware that by November 11^th, we will no longer be able to support you or fix any bugs/issues you might be facing. You are also facing some security issues as we will no longer be able to maintain the software.

No, the upgrade will not impact how you use Editor. However, if you are an On prem customer, you will need to contact your account manager to be provided with a new activation code.