Hi all, I am new to the DNN universe but I have administered sites with Front page and Dreamweaver. I currently do hosting for clients on a dedicated server and I have 15 IP. (some shared) I installed an instance on a dedicated IP and set up version 4.09. So far so good, I than proceded to set up a child portal (call it jackson) I also host the Jackson site under a shared IP. Now I want to bring the DNN child that I created to replace the Jackson.com.

The Jackson site is on IP 123.45.67.890
the instance (wildpony) is on dedicated 123.45.67.999 child is wildpony.XXX/jackson

I would like to know how I can set DNS (I control through Plesk) IIS and Aliases on DNN this confuses the heck out of me right now.

Any help would be appreciated. Does this site have videos that explain this?

 

 

Peter

You should set DNS to point the URL to the IP address of the DotNetNuke installation.  Inside of the portalalias table, you need to create the proper aliases.

For example, I have an installation of DotNetNuke with a number of portals.  One of them is a child portal, but has the following portal aliases:

• mysite2.com
• mysite.com/mysite2

Ok I changed the A record of the Jackson site to point to the IP address of the DNN portal. I than went into the DNN Portal and created the alias. I also went into IIS to create the header (correct?) Do I have to go into IIS of the original JAckson site and point it to the DNN installation or am I just confusing everything? Will a subscription to this site help me with these issues?

Thanks

A subscription to this site will let you view the tutorials.  I believe that will be useful.  In fact, one of the first things that I did when I started using DotNetNuke was to subscribe to this site.

(Note that I am a paid staffer now.  That doesn't change my opinion, though.  I think that a subscription to DNNCreative Magazine is an essential tool for any user of DotNetNuke.)

Kind of a round about way of answering my question without answering it.... I prefer the straight forward answer myself. ie (me acting like moderator / expert of this forum)
By subscribing to this forum the videos and tutorial will address those issues, and with a subscription we can certainly address your issue further.

and than I subscribe because I get a definitive answer. Sorry for the sarcasm I'm just very frustrated with getting this site up and running.

I'm sorry that I offended you.  I was trying to give an honest answer.  That answer is, I continue to learn every month by viewing the tutorials that Lee produces.

I recommend a subscription to DNNCreative to everyone who is involved with DotNetNuke.  I do that independently of my role as a staffer.  I made that same recommendation before I went to work for DNNCreative Magazine, and I expect that I'll continue to make that recommendation if I ever leave this.

I'll try to address your other question separately.

"Ok I changed the A record of the Jackson site to point to the IP address of the DNN portal. I than went into the DNN Portal and created the alias. I also went into IIS to create the header (correct?) Do I have to go into IIS of the original JAckson site and point it to the DNN installation or am I just confusing everything?"


Did that work?  I assume that it did no since you asked again.

After having done this, what happens when you try to browse to the URL?  Does it go to the old site?  Somewhere else? 

Is there any URL that will get me to your site?

Ok the original site that I had a standard web site was jacksonnjgop.com I than created a child portal under wildpony.net/jacksonnjgop. Unfortunately I guess I listened to too many people with too many opinions and now neither site works. (that's why the frustration)

Here is what I did, I created the DNN child and was able to get to it through the child portal login ie wildpony.net/jacksonnjgop Now that I knew the site was "done" I wanted to take it live. I created the alias in the portal www.jacksonnjgop.com

I thank went to DNS and set the site IP to point to the IP of the DNN installation. I also went into IIS and changed the home directory under jacksonnjgop to point to the site under wildpony.net/jacksonnjgop

Also in IIS I set Header information for the DNN install to read (IP address) 74.54.132.151 port 80 www.jacksonnjgop.com

Now nothing works. I think I did too many things. I can only access the new DNN Jackson site through the wildpony superuser login.

Again Sorry for the sarcasm, but I think all the half answers I got from others is what put me into this mess. I think your site provides a great service and I shall definitely subscribe. I downloaded the "free" videos and I'm sure there is much I can learn.

I can see a site at www.jacksonnjgop.com.  Does that mean that you've fixed things?

Hi Joe, it seems so. I will have to document all of my last (frustrated) settings so I can re-create this success. Thanks for your patience and responses. As of today I am subscribing to the website so I can gain more knowledge regarding DotNetNuke. I'm sure I will see you on the forums again. Happy New Year.

Hello Again Joe, I subscribed to the site today and I am amazed at the amount of information available. One quick question, since I have a domain that is up and running I would than set up a "child" portal to create under DNN. Once this is done do I have to do anything to make it a "parent" or is that simply accomplished when I change DNS and IIS?
It seems I can't create a "parent" when I already have a web site running.


Peter

Sometimes, questions like this get a little murky in my mind.  I hope that my answer isn't any more murky than it has to be. 

When you create a parent website and point a domain name at it, any "child" sites can be visited using the parent's domain name.

If you have a child site that you want to have its own domain name, that is an issue that can be solved by configuring DNS and the portalalias for the child site.  I have an installation that has a single parent portal and lots of child portals, but a number of the child portals have associated domain names (via DNS) and corresponding portalaliases. 

I have never tried to convert a child site to a parent.  So I really don't know the answer to your question.  There would also be a DNS and portal alias.  But ... as the main difference between a  child and a parent is some entries in the Portals table, it's not clear that you can't change one to another.  If you try, let me know what happens.

Hello,

Yes you should be able to change a child portal into a parent portal as it is only settings in a portal alias table that specifies this. A child and parent portal are basically the same thing, for an additional parent portal you just have to point the additional domain name to your DotNetNuke installation folder. - just as you did for the main domain name.

I would recommend you view this issue where I went through all of the concepts of parent and child portals and hopefully this should help to clarify a lot of the questions:
Issue 17 - DotNetNuke Portals

Thanks,

Thanks Lee, definetly going to look at that. Great site! I'm looking forward to going through the videos so I can get a better understanding of this.

Peter

Lee, Joe, just want to say Thank you for your patience and knowledge. I spoke with 3 DNN "experts" and they confused the hell out of me. Your video and newsletter are clear, concise and to the point.. I can see I will be visiting this site often. (and referring others here)

That's great! - It's always good to hear when people find the site useful.

- Thanks for the testimonial as well,

Cheers,

One final (maybe) question. I went through the video's you suggested and I understand the child/parent portal. Here is a specific question regarding that. I have a domain with swanpump.com that is up and running created with frontpage or whatever, I will be taking this site to the DNN technology but I want this site to stay up and running till I finish it under DNN. I go to my wildpony.net site and login as Superuser, I create the parent portal named www.swanpump.com. DNN creates the alias and portal and when I FTP into wildpony it shows me PORTAL/5. So far so good. However when I go to manage the portal to create it it takes me back the the original swanpump site. (I know this is because of DNS). How can I edit / build this site as a parent portal without disturbing the existing site till I am ready to go live?

Thanks Again
Peter

create your new site with a different name.  You could use beta.swanpump.com.  Set everything up that way.

Then, when you are ready to make the switch, add the swanpump.com portal alias to the new site, and then point DNS at it.

ok so I temporarily change headers and to point to the subdomain? And when I am done just go into IIS and DNS to point to the site. Correct?