Here is an article I wrote today that will help you with your installation of DNN on the Rackspace Cloud!

How do I install DotNetNuke 5.01.04 on Rackspace Cloud?

This article will show you how to install DotNetNuke 5.01.04 onto your hosted site with Rackspace Cloud – previously named Mosso.

You can download the DotNetNuke 5.01.04  zip file by browsing to DotNetNukes website     

http:// dotnetnuke.com – You must login or register to download the files.

The following needs to be configured prior to setting up DotNetNuke:

Select Windows/IIS as your default technology on Rackspace Cloud for your Site

1.       Login to your control panel at https://manage.rackspacecloud.com.

2.       Click on the "Websites & Email" button on the left navigation menu.

3.       Click on the domain name you would like to change the technology on.

4.       Click on the "Features" tab and then click on the "Customize" button in the "Technologies" section.

5.       Select “Windows Server 2008 / IIS7” from the drop down menu and click on the "Save Settings" button.

NOTE: When changing your site's default technology, this changes the IP for the site. You can get the new IP on the Domain tab.

Add a SQL Server database to your site

Purchase the storage space for the SQL Server database:

1.       Log into your control panel at https://manage.rackspacecloud.com.

2.       Click on "Websites & Email" on the left navigation menu.

3.       Click on the domain you want to add a SQL Server database to.

4.       Click on the "Change Plan" link in the Traffic & Disk Space section.

5.       Skip the "Select a Hosting Plan" page by scrolling to the bottom and clicking on the "Next Step" button.

6.       On the "Additional Features" page in the "Microsoft SQL Storage" section, select the option that best corresponds to the amount of storage you would like to use.

7.       In the “Additional Databases” section, select “1 additional database”.

8.       Click on the "Next Step" button.

9.       Review your selections and when ready, click on the "Next Step" button.

Now that you had added the storage space to the domain, you can now add the SQL Server database.

1.       Log into your control panel at https://manage.rackspacecloud.com.

2.       Click on "Websites & Email" on the left navigation menu.

3.       Click on the domain you want to add a SQL Server database to.

4.       Click on the Features tab.

5.       Click on the "Add" button in the "Databases" section.

6.       Enter the name of your database in the text field and select "SQL Server 2008" from the "Database Type:" drop down menu, and then click on the "Continue button.

7.       Enter the database username and password you would like to assign then click on the "Finish" button.

To get your FTP username and Password you will need to:

1.    Click on Hosting and then Cloud Sites

2.    Scroll Down and expand the Viewing and Editing section to see your FTP username and Password. Click on “Show” to view the FTP Password

Note your “Database Name” and “Username”, as well as the FTP username and Password because they will be needed to configure the DotNetNuke web.config, below

 

Please note that DotNetNuke will be referred to as DNN for the remainder of this article. Before proceeding with the installation, please download the DNN zip file and extract it on your local machine. Modify the web.config file with Notepad or another text editor such as Microsoft Visio Studio.

Add the following line directly under “system.web”

<identity impersonate="true" userName="dfw\FTPUSER Name" password="FTP Password" />

Example of this is below:

<system.web>

        <identity impersonate="true" userName="dfw\FTPUSER Name" password="FTP Password" />

<machineKey>

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Please note that “dfw” may be “sat” depending on what datacenter your located in. If you have questions please contact Rackspace Cloud Support.

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Also make a note to set customErrors to "Off", which is case-sensitive. Save your web.config and zip all the files. Once all this is done, you are ready to begin the upload.

1. Select the File Manager under Hosting and select your new site.

2.  Browse to /www.domain.com/web/content

3. Click on File Upload and select your zip file

4. Once uploaded, Right click the zip file and select “extract”

5. After the file is unzipped open the folder where your files are and “ctrl” + left click to select all files and cut

6. Select Parent Folder and click Paste which will put all files in the root folder

            This could also have been accomplished by using an ftp client

Now lets start the DNN Installation

1. Open your browser and go to your domain name's URL (if DNS is propagated-if not use the testing url located under Hosting-Cloud Sites).
2. The DNN installation wizard will now load. Select your installation method and your language type and click on the "Next" button. This article will only cover the "Typical" and "English language install.

3. DNN will now check to see if the permissions are properly set. Click on the "Test Permissions" button. All checks should complete successfully before proceeding. Should any fail, please verify your “<identity impersonate” we added above or contact Rackspace Cloud support.

Click on the "Next Step" button.

4. This page will now setup your database connection. For "Select Database," choose "SQL Server 2005/2008 Database." Enter the hostname for your database for the "Server" field (Similar to . mssql0804.wc1\inst2)  Enter your database name in the "Database" field. Make sure to uncheck the box for "Integrated Security." Enter your database username and password into the appropriate fields.
5. Enter in an Object Qualifier, like 'dbo' for example.
6. Click on the "Test Database Connection" button. Should the connection fail, please verify your database information or change dbo to dnn.
7. Click on the "Next" button and DNN will begin creating the database. Once you see "Installation of Database Complete," click on the "Next" button. Please see the note at the bottom of this article if you begin to receive a "undefined success" error.
8. You will now configure the Host user for DNN. Fill out the fields with the appropriate information. Once finished, click on the "Next" button.
9. You will now configure the Portal Administrator user and your site properties. Enter the appropriate properties and click on the "Next" button to complete the installation.

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10. Get the SMTP settings from Rackspace Cloud Support, however in most cases it will be smtp.email.srvr.com

11. Leave the Authentication System to Live ID unless you have AD (Active Directory) installed and running.
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You have now completed the installation for DotNetNuke. You will be presented with the option to continue to the site with the "Finished (Go to Site)" button. You can also go back to any previous page during the installation through the "Previous" button.

Note:
In the event that you are get a "undefined success" error message as part of the database installation procedure, you can use the following suggestions:

• Allow the installer to continue to scroll through the error messages for several minutes to ensure that all of the database tables have been added.
• Use your back button to return to the beginning of the installation and select "Automatic" installation. Because the database tables already exist, the installer will skip this step and complete successfully.
• If all other attempts fail to correct error, you can wipe out your database and start again fresh  
• Any changes to the web.config file will require you to Rebuild the Application. It is at the very bottom of the cloud sites page.

If you have any questions concerning this article, please contact Rackspace Cloud support.

Best Regards,

Joshua Hatfield

Rackspace