vBulletin update?

[shimpaku]

Hi, I'm in a bit of an unusual situation here.
I am the moderator on a forum site for some years now but I know nothing about the functions or how to use the administrative control panel.
Let me explain. The administrator of our site was taken very ill about two months ago and has not been on the site in all of that time. There are many issues that have to be taken care of and of course just being a moderator leaves my hands tied to a great extent.

The admin. gave us mods. some limited access to the admin. control panel. This was to enable us to ban IP addresses instead of just ones user name. The other reason being is so that I could to a Repair/Optimize of the tables when it was needed if he was not around. I am able to roam around the many functions of the control panel but I never have as of yet touched anything. I noticed that there is a new update to vBulletin. We currently have 3.6.7 PL1 but noticed a new update to 3.6.8. It seems as though if I clicked on it that it might be possible for me to do the update but I have not clicked on it as I in all honesty fear what would happen! Then again, if I clicked on it a message might simply pop up saying I have no administrative access to perform the function.

Here is my question(s). What would indeed happen if I clicked on the update?
Is it just automatically installed without any hitch or hiccup to the site? I certainly do not wish to harm the site or knock it out of commission as I would have no way of restoring it! Also, will it harm the site in any way shape or form if I do not install this new update?

Thank you for any help or answers that you can give me on this issue.

Kind Regards ~P

[KW802]

Clicking on that in the ACP will take you to the vBulletin.com website to download the newest/current version. Once there you'll need to supply the credentials associated to the account to gain access to the members area.

[shimpaku]

Thanks Kevin, that is what I more or less thought would happen but obviously I was not sure.

Best, ~P

Whoops....almost forgot. What about not doing the update (as obviously I cannot). Will that eventually cause any harm to the site?

[KW802]

Thanks Kevin, that is what I more or less thought would happen but obviously I was not sure.

Best, ~P

Whoops....almost forgot. What about not doing the update (as obviously I cannot). Will that eventually cause any harm to the site?Depends on what version you're currently on versus what the new versions offer. Many people are still running vB 3.5.x and even vB 3.0.x yet.

Generally though you should at the very least apply any security patches for your current version. To get them, though, you'll need access to the license account over at vB.com.