Gayani's Blog

How to upgrade a DotNetNuke web site in version 3.2.x to version 4.4.1

Upgrading web sites that was created in DNN 3.2 or older versions to newer versions has become a common need today, due to the latest browsers and upcoming features that new versions provide. For example the IE7.0 does not display the tool bar of the FreeTextBox of the site created in DNN3.2 or later versions.

So here are the steps to follow to convert a DNN 3.2 web site to DNN 4.4. First, test this in a QA environment rather than trying on the production server.

• Backup the web site database and the web sites folder that contain all the files.
• Unzip the DNN 4.x installation package to any of the folders, then open up the web.config file.
• And do the following changes, and use the web sites web.config file as the source to obtain the following details.
• Set the
  • Database name
  • Machine Validation key value.
  • DecryptionKey value.
  • Database Owner
  • ObjectQualifier

as same as the web.config file of the web site. Also make sure you copy any other settings you have made in the web sites web.config file.

• Now that you have done the necessary changes; copy the dnn4 folder contents to the web sites folder contents, this process will over ride the web config as well a so other files.
• Now go to IIS and select the folder that you have set this site to run and change the DotNet engine to 2.0 version.
• Now our web.config file will still be pointed to the production database of the test machine. Once we browse this site; what happens is that the contents for a DNN4 database will be installed on top of your production database through the application. And it will show up an upgrading screen in the portal. Once it is success it will create a link to browse the site.

If you check the database; some of the existing tables will now appear with additional fields. Further, during the upgrading if there was any problems it will be logged and the log will be pointed for you knowledge.

The process of converting is very straight forward, but its always advisable to get a back up of your files and convert the site.

Its often the case where some of the custom modules you've created, may give problems during a site upgrading. One solution to this would be to uninstall the module and convert that particular module to DotNet 2.0 and then re-install.

DotNetNuke upgrading allows you to retain your data as it is and upgrade the web site successfully.

posted by Gayani Devapriya @ 1:07 PM