8.7 Release Notes
Release Highlights
WHMCS 8.7 includes domain registration through CentralNic’s new centralized reseller platform, the ability to issue SSL certificates more quickly and reliably than ever, tools to ensure compatibility after we remove legacy Smarty tag support, enhanced privacy and security with NordVPN, and more.
Version History
| Latest Update | Version | Release Type |
|---|---|---|
| 06-20-2023 | 8.7.3 | General Availability (Security) |
| 04-26-2023 | 8.7.2 | General Availability (Maintenance) |
| 03-23-2023 | 8.7.1 | General Availability (Maintenance) |
| 03-21-2023 | 8.7.0 | General Availability |
| 02-24-2023 | 8.7.0 | Release Candidate |
| 01-25-2023 | 8.7.0 | Beta 2 |
| 12-21-2022 | 8.7.0 | Beta 1 |
Upgrade Requirements
Before upgrading through this WHMCS version, make certain that your system meets the following requirements:
| Dependency | Minimum Requirement | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| ionCube® Loader | ionCube Loader 10.2.0 | ionCube Loader 12.0.1 |
| MySQL® | MySQL 5.2 | MySQL 8.0 |
| PHP | PHP 7.2 | PHP 8.1 |
- Updates only appear at Utilities > Update WHMCS if you are running a compatible PHP version.
- For information on updating your installation, see Updating Through EOL Versions.
New Features
360 Monitoring via WHMCS MarketConnect
360 Monitoring lets your customers monitor websites and servers, track metrics, personalize their dashboards, and export reports. This allows them to optimize performance and detect downtime immediately, with free and paid plans to meet each business’s needs.
When you sell 360 Monitoring via WHMCS MarketConnect, setup is easy and customers can view their server and website statuses directly within the Client Area.
You can find out more and enable sales at Configuration () > System Settings > MarketConnect.
CentralNic Reseller Module
We now ship a CentralNic Reseller domain registrar module. It uses the new CentralNic Reseller platform.
- After you start using the CentralNic Reseller module, you can select CentralNic Reseller as your lookup provider at Configuration () > System Settings > Domain Pricing.
- This module replaces the RRPProxy module. If you have configured RRPProxy in WHMCS, the update process will migrate your configuration and any existing RRP Proxy domains to the new CentralNic Reseller module and remove RRPProxy from your system.
Instant Issuance for SSL Certificates via MarketConnect
Instant Issuance makes selling and deploying DigiCert SSL certificates even faster and more reliable. SSL protection is instantaneous, with the entire process taking under a minute.
In WHMCS 8.7 and later, MarketConnect uses Instant Issuance by default for eligible newly-purchased SSL certificates.
NordVPN via WHMCS MarketConnect
In WHMCS 8.7 and later, WHMCS MarketConnect now allows you to offer NordVPN and help your customers secure their personal and business data with a personal VPN.
Smarty Compatibility Scan
We plan to remove support for SmartyBC, which provides backward compatibility for legacy Smarty tags, in WHMCS 9.0. As a result, WHMCS 6.0 deprecated use of the {php}, {include_php}, and {insert} tags.
To help you make certain that your system is ready for this change, WHMCS 8.7 includes warnings in the Admin Area and at Configuration () > System Health. The new Smarty Compatibility scan can detect legacy Smarty tags on your WHMCS installation and displays the results at Reports > Reports.
{php}, {include_php}, and {insert} tags in custom theme and template files must remove them as soon as possible. For more information, see Legacy Smarty Tags below.Updates and Improvements
Improved PayPal Checkout Logging
In WHMCS 8.7, we improved handling of missing and orphaned subscriptions in the PayPal Checkout payment gateway module. This includes improved logging in the Activity Log at Configuration () > System Logs.
Deprecations
Legacy Smarty Tags
WHMCS 9.0 will permanently remove all support for SmartyBC, which provided backward compatibility for {php}, {include_php}, and {insert} tags in custom themes and templates. Removing this support promotes stronger security on your WHMCS installation. It will also allow WHMCS to upgrade to using Smarty 4, which does not include SmartyBC, in the near future.
WHMCS 6.0 deprecated support for these tags, and WHMCS 8.7 deprecates the associated Allow Smarty PHP Tags setting in the Security tab at Configuration () > System Settings > General Settings.
Removals
Removed Modules
We have removed the Payson and RRPProxy modules:
- Payson ceases support for our module in January 2023. The update to WHMCS 8.7 will remove the files for this module.
- We no longer support the RRPProxy module. If you previously configured this module, the update process will migrate you to the new CentralNic Reseller module before removing the RRPProxy files.
For Developers
Template Changes
For a list of changed files and a graphical view of the exact changes between WHMCS 8.6.2 and WHMCS 8.7.3, see our GitHub® repositories:
Last modified: October 30, 2024