In every release, Blackboard devotes time and resources to make Blackboard Learn run on the latest operating systems, databases, and browsers available, with the goal of creating a system that is more manageable, more stable, and more user friendly.
This section highlights the major changes to the Supported Technologies and Browsers for this release. For the most up-to-date information, see Blackboard Learn Release 9.1 Q2 2018 Supported Technologies and Browsers and Supported Technologies End User available on the Behind the Blackboard.
In order to more clearly define support statements regarding third-party client technologies, Blackboard no longer classifies support for technologies in terms of 'compatible' or 'certified'. These technologies are now either fully supported or not supported. Supported and unsupported technologies are aligned as closely as possible with third-party vendor support policies.
- Supported: Supported by the vendor and Blackboard.
- Unsupported: Unsupported by the vendor or not supported by Blackboard.
64-bit server configurations
| Application Server / JDK 1.8 | SQL Server 2014 Enterprise & Standard | SQL Server 2017 Enterprise & Standard | Oracle 12c | Oracle 11gR2 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows Server 2012 R2 | Unsupported | Unsupported | Unsupported | Unsupported | Unsupported |
| Windows Server 2016 | Supported | Unsupported | Supported | Unsupported | Unsupported |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 | Supported | Unsupported | Unsupported | Supported | Supported |
| Sun Solaris 10 | Unsupported | Unsupported | Unsupported | Unsupported | Unsupported |
| Sun Solaris 11 | Supported | Unsupported | Unsupported | Supported | Supported |
Configuration notes
- Windows environments must be upgraded to Windows Server 2016 and SQL Server 2017 Enterprise or Standard Edition for this release after upgrading the Learn application to 9.1 Q2 2018.
- Sun Solaris 10 must be upgraded to Sun Solaris 11.
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux – no change; RHEL 6 only supported with RHEL 7 support planned for an upcoming release.
- Windows Server 2012 and SQL Server 2014 Enterprise and Standard Editions are supported for the purposes of running the upgrader. After all servers have been upgraded to Learn 9.1 Q2 2018, Windows environments must be upgraded in the following sequence prior initializing services in order to be in a supported configuration: 1. Windows Server 2016 and 2. SQL Server 2017.
- When installing or upgrading to the Q2 2018 release on a Windows server, the installer automatically sets the SQL server compatibility level for the three primary databases (bblearn/bb_bb60, stats, and admin) to 120 (SQL Server 2014) to avoid potential issues. All other Learn databases use the system default and highest compatibility level. This is intentional and is the only configuration tested and supported for this release. 9.1 Q4 2018 and newer releases fix the need for this and allow higher compatibility settings.
Non-English operating systems and databases
Non-English operating systems and databases, such as a Chinese-language version of Oracle, are supported with Blackboard Learn.
High-availability database configurations
It is strongly recommended by Blackboard that for purposes of system management Blackboard Learn be installed on a single instance database. Oracle RAC and Microsoft SQL Server AlwaysOn are high-availability configurations from their respective vendors. If for reasons of institutional policy you must run Blackboard Learn in a RAC or AlwaysOn database configuration you may do so, but Blackboard will only support the installation at the Learn-to-database JDBC layer - not at the database layer. Issues encountered at the JDBC layer will be accepted as support incidents, and escalated and triaged according to standard Product Support procedures. Other issues encountered at the database will have to be addressed with the database vendor. If you are unable to address database issues at the database layer in these configurations, Product Support will recommend switching to a single instance database configuration for continued support.
To learn more about running Blackboard Learn with RAC, see Oracle RAC Support.
Hybrid configurations
Red Hat/Solaris hybrid configurations have not been tested and are not supported.
TLS configuration
Blackboard Learn now only runs over TLS. To learn more, see the TLS Configuration section of Install and Upgrade.
Java platform (Java SE JDK support)
JDK 1.8 is supported. Other versions are not currently supported.
Minimum system requirements:
- 8GB per Learn application server
- 24GB per Oracle server
Notes:
- This is the minimum JVM memory required to run Blackboard Learn.
- To run the Blackboard database and handle all of its databases, a minimum of 24GB per Oracle server are required.
- If your Blackboard Learn application server and Oracle server run on a standalone server, the minimum requirements are combined (32GB).
Virtualization
VMware® ESX Server 5 (Linux® and Windows®) is the only configuration tested by Blackboard for Release 9.1.
Blackboard supports other virtualization solutions as long as Blackboard and the hypervisor support the guest operating system.
In addition to VMware, Blackboard has experience with Citrix XenServer 5.5, Solaris 10 Zones and Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 4 & 5 Xen.
