Issue 26
Last Post 11/21/2007 9:34 AM by Joseph Craig. 11 Replies.
Author Messages
David
Nuke Master
Nuke Master
Posts:152


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11/12/2007 5:20 PM

    Lee;

    This month's issue of your magazine was very interesting.  Like most DNN developers, I too will have to maintain a local copy in a production copy of my website.  I am always interested in better ways to synchronize the two sites.  I feel that you missed a couple important issues in your training video.

    • The first issue is that the text module requires “fix up", to correct the pointer to the image location, which is different between the localhost and production sites.  You also neglected to mention that any files such as images must be moved manually.  You cleverly got around the issue in your video by pointing to images distributed with DotNetNuke.
    • It has been my experience that several other modules also require some fix-up after being moved.  For example, Ultra Media Gallery 3.0 requires rebuilding of the cache by editing one entry per module.

     

    It would be interesting to know if you have actually tried this synchronization method on your production website with serious changes having been made on the local site. I would be interested in how well this methodology worked for other modules such as: Forum, Blog, Repository and UDT especially if any images are involved.

     

    My current strategy for synchronizing my websites is as follows:

    • I do all page/content development on the production server on pages that are only visible to developers.  If the page being developed is a major change to an existing page, I cut and paste the content into the old page at the time that I want to make it visible.  This is done this way to keep Google’s index happy. If the page being developed is a new page I just changed its settings and make it visible when I wish to expose.
    • I do all skin development on my local site.  I zip them up and installed them on the production site and test them on a test page there. When I wish to make them visible by merely have to change the site admin settings.
    • A new module/application development on my local site.  Since I use ListX for most of this development I am able to extract the XML files and installed them on the production site.  I'd still have issues here with image files such as buttons.

     

    My current ISP provides a backup methodology that zips up all of the files and a backup of the database in a single zip file.  This makes it very easy to download and install locally.

    In my main portal on the production site I keep portal aliases for each address that I use locally:  localhost/asi3, dsnow2.dnsalias.com/asi3, and 192.168.5.12/asi3. This way I don't have to add them after I have downloaded the site. Because the ISP has the SQL server on the same local host, I could actually move the data and not have to edit web.config.  However, I have elected to name the databases differently just to make sure that I don't edit the wrong one.

    I use your methodology from Issue 22 to do all of the image fix-up. Since my site includes several parent portals I have adapted your process to fix them all at once. I have a two-step process to do that. First I execute “Replace_DesktopHTML '/Portals/','/asi3/PortalX/'” then “Replace_DesktopHTML '/PortalX/','/Portals/'”   This process will loop if you try to do it in a single step.

    I usually disable Snapsis PageBlaster on my local site just to ensure that its caching isn't getting in my way.

    When I get to a good point in my development I move skins and modules to the production site.  Then I clone the production site back to my local host.

    Keep up the good work. You always seem to be thinking of how to help us develop,


    /DaveS

    Joseph Craig
    DNN MVP
    Posts:11667


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    11/12/2007 8:22 PM
    Dave,

    Here's some news that you'll probably be quite happy to hear. The next major version release of DotNetNuke, code-named "Cambrian", will support staging sites and connecting them to production sites. This was announced last week at the Open Force '07 conference in Las Vegas.

    The first Cambrian release is due in the first quarter of calendar year 2008.

    Joe Craig, Patapsco Research Group
    Complete DNN Support
    David
    Nuke Master
    Nuke Master
    Posts:152


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    11/12/2007 10:22 PM
    While that sounds interesting. Hoever,  I'd rather they would focus on fixing the bugs that are preventing me from being able to upgrade to a current version.

    New fretures are nice, but when the number of bugs introduced in a release exceeds the number fixed it is hard to move forward.

    /DaveS
    Joseph Craig
    DNN MVP
    Posts:11667


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    11/12/2007 11:08 PM
    Dave,

    I'm not arguing that bugs need fixing. Just for my information, what bugs are giving you trouble? Do you happen to know if they are in the DotNetNuke bug tracking system?

    Joe Craig, Patapsco Research Group
    Complete DNN Support
    David
    Nuke Master
    Nuke Master
    Posts:152


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    11/13/2007 11:28 AM
    I rely on the ability to clone parent portals using export portal and import portal. This frequently gets broken when DNN adds new portal attributes and the export portal routine exports them but nobody has added any code to import portal and it crashes and burns.

    I start using DNN at 4.3.5 and it worked at that time. It was soon broken and the next version that it worked in was 4.5.3 which I am now running. It was broken on 4.4 and fixed in 4.6.0.

    When I talked to my ISP, Power DNN, at 4.6.2 about upgrading they suggest that I wait until 4.7.0 because they were having very bad experiences upgrading to 4.6.*.  (The time between 4.6.0 and 4.6.2 was only 2 weeks)

    I am about to start testing 4.7.0 this week. There haven't been enough comments in the DNN forums since everyone has been in Vagas.  However, I am septical about the dot-zero release of every DNN release for good reasons.

    When I test I go thru the entire life-cycle of my web site; testing on my localhost and then on the ISP. I add, deleteand modify - users, pages, portals etc.

    Since I use ListX for my primary application I go thru several tests with it as well.  Once you have upgraded and have important changes in both DNN's database and our appliaction's database it is really tough to go back. I have had to do this once so far and that is why I am so careful. I had to go back to a backup and re-enter users and page edits. I had to manually save and restore my table of Adult Family Home data. At that time I was hosted at GoDaddy and didn't have SQL Manager access to the database. Yuk!

    Regards,
    /DaveS


    Joseph Craig
    DNN MVP
    Posts:11667


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    11/13/2007 1:12 PM
    FWIW, several people at Open Force mentioned that there probably would be a quick "stabilization" release after 4.7.0. I'd wait for that one.

    Joe Craig, Patapsco Research Group
    Complete DNN Support
    Lee Sykes
    DNN Creative Staff
    Nuke Master VI
    Nuke Master VI
    Posts:4945


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    11/13/2007 4:24 PM
    Hi Dave,

    Yes the methods you outline as your current working methods are very similar to mine. - In the video I didn't mention the fixup that you need to make regarding image location as I assumed that the user following this video is an advanced user and has already followed the localhost transfer tutorials which covers this point, and as you mention, you need to use the find and replace SQL procedure to fix this problem.

    I haven't tested the Redgate software on a complex site, but it should provide a much more reliable method of transferring data between installations. - I personally update content directly on the live site, but know that some users require a localhost staging environment before they apply the changes to the live site which is why I created the video. - So, the video is meant more as an introduction to the possibilities and it is one of those methods that you will need to test for your individual DotNetNuke installation as every single installation is different depending on the modules that are installed.

    You can download a trial of the software, so I would recommend you do this and test it out in some test environments and let us know how you get on with modules such as the Ultra media Gallery.

    If there are other tutorials / elements that you need covering to help you, please do not hesitate to ask,

    Cheers,
    Lee Sykes
    Site Administrator
    Subscribe to the website : DotNetNuke Video Tutorials : The Skinning Toolkit : DotNetNuke Podcasts

    Twitter: www.twitter.com/DNNCreative

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    David
    Nuke Master
    Nuke Master
    Posts:152


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    11/13/2007 5:40 PM
    I think for the moment that I will stick with my current methodology.  It just seems too risky to be making the kinds of mass changes to a production website.

    /Dave S.
    Déclic Vidéo FX
    Nuke Pro
    Nuke Pro
    Posts:93


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    11/21/2007 4:29 AM
    Just to come back to the original thread, I am also a little bit deceived that nothing is mentionned concerning the images problems (relative path is /mydnnfolder, the folder where the installation is done). This is very problematic, you can not have a LIVE and LOCAL synchronised because of this... Or maybe I make a mistake somewhere ???
    See here.

    DV
    Déclic Vidéo FX - http://declic-video-fx.com
    Joseph Craig
    DNN MVP
    Posts:11667


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    11/21/2007 8:59 AM
    Presumably you saw Lee's reply to your comments in the other thread. I certainly don't think that Lee is attempting to deceive anyone.

    FYI, the DotNetNuke folks are well aware that having a "developmental" site from which material can be moved to a "live" site is an issue for many of us. The next major release of DotNetNuke, also known as "Cambrian", is said to deal with this issue. Look for the first release of this next version in early 2008.

    Joe Craig, Patapsco Research Group
    Complete DNN Support
    Déclic Vidéo FX
    Nuke Pro
    Nuke Pro
    Posts:93


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    11/21/2007 9:07 AM
    No, of course, Lee is not attempting to deceive anybody ! Sorry, my english is not so good, and that is not what I want to say (I am french native speaker) !!! I love this website and Lee tutorials, keep up the good work.

    I was deceived that I made a hard work, and suddenly discovered a major bug (at least for me). I thought I made an error... It is not the case... It means that it is "normal" and if I want to correct the way the image display, I have to edit each one by one (I will look the tutorial Lee is mentionning, it will certainly help me !)

    DV
    Déclic Vidéo FX - http://declic-video-fx.com
    Joseph Craig
    DNN MVP
    Posts:11667


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    11/21/2007 9:34 AM
    DV,

    I'm sorry. I intended to add a smiley to then end of the sentence about deceiving.

    Your English is certainly much better than my French!

    Joe Craig, Patapsco Research Group
    Complete DNN Support


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