Loved the new issue it came out right when I needed it.  Here is what I am doing:

Shared hosting environment -- Website called miskitomissions
www.miskitomissions.com/dnn

I want to move that installation to a VPS that I have at:
209.34.169.74/dnn

I forgot to make the changes to the potal aliases (this might be the whole problem)

I moved the database over, then all the files, then changed the web.config to point to the new database.
When I try to load 209.34.169.74/dnn in a browser it autodirects it to the old installation at www.miskitomissions.com/dnn

Is this caused because I did not add 209.34.169.74/dnn as a portal aliass before I moved over the database? (the host of the shared environment will not make backups of the database when I ask, only once a week on sundays that is why I have not corrected the issue of not putting in the portal aliass)

If you think the problem is caused be not having the portal aliass right I can add them wait till monday morning and move the database again and it will fix everything.

Thank you very much.
Jeremy Palmer

Yes, that's the problem.

Does your host allow you to access the database using SQL Server Management Studio Express? If so, you can go into the database manually and make the change.

Thank you for the REALLY fast reply...lol

No I have no access to the the database at all they back it up every sunday night.
I can create users through thier proprietary control panel but that is it.

One of the reasons I am switching to a VPS.

Is there anyway to add a portal alias directly to the database without being inside DNN?

I guess the real question is when you add a portal alias where does it write that to the DB or web.config, or somewhere else? and can you manually edit that?

What I had in mind was that you might have access to the database on your NEW site.

If you do and if you can access the database on the NEW site, then you could use SQL Server Management Studio to open the database, open the portalalias table, and change the portal alias.

Portal aliases are stored in a table called portalias in your database. Most everything is stored in some table in your database. Very little that has to do with your site is stored in web.config.

Thank you very much...It all worked like a charm.  Found the table and added it manually.

Joe,

In the above case, you mentioned the ability to edit the PortalAlias table directly.

So far, I am not having success. I can see the table for PortalAlias table. I can right click and open it.

When I open it, I can see the column headings and the rows of data. I cannot enter data into the PortalAliasID column (it's locked). I guess that value will be automatically calculated. I can enter a PortalID, but that fails (I see an error that mentions a conflict in the Portals table). And, I can type in the httpAlias field, but again, I get an error indicating a conflict:

"The INSERT conflicted with the FOREIGN KEY constraint in the FK_PortalAlias_Portals." It goes on to say that the conflict is in my db and the table dbo.Portals, PortalID. Opening that table (Portals), I see each portal has an ID already, so I have to name which one I want to alias.

Thinking it through, I see why the conflict exists. I must name an "existing" PortalID prior to naming the PortalAlias, then PortalAliasID is auto-named. Your tip gets a WAYCool rating here. That is SO HELPFUL for my old sites that I have backed up, but not currently in production (I can bring them up locally, if I can create localhost alias'), I am leaving this note in this space....in case someone else needs a quick primer.

Thank you

For your reference, it's MUCH easier to fiddle with PortalAliases using the Host menu's Portals entry on a working site.  You can add PortalAliases before you move the site.

It does seem much easier to use the Host Settings, BUT, if the site is archived (not in production) can you get it up and running locally, by making the localhost changes directly to the Portalalias table? Will the portal function exactly the same whether the changes are made through SQL Table or Host Settings?

d

Editing the DB Table, I was able to take a non-production site (that was off line for months) and get it running on my localhost...under Vista. Whooohoooo! Once I got the portals up and logged in as host, I saw that the Portals page looks exactly the same....as if, I had entered the portal in the website.

Cool stuff....YOU GUYS ROCK!

Even though you know this by now, there is no difference in the database.  Just two different ways of achieving the same result.