Dave I do not do any local development on sites that are already deployed and require content to be added. It's more of a headache and I've got my own servers. However, I do on many occasions, create the sites locally, then upload to server, attach db.. etc.
However, I do have 14 days of backups of SQL.
It's not practical for some people, nor do they have experience in many instances, particularly if they have simple hosting and want to make a few changes on their site.
However, upgrading is different - some do this locally, others live in a dev environment, and for me, I use a dev environment but normally don't upgrade installations with multiple portals already deployed. My theory is - if it's not broke - don't touch it.
I've been hosting and managing DotNetNuke sites for over 3 years now for my clients and depending on the project evaluate the best way to manage it. With child portals, the management is vastly different. I have a build with 95 child portals which are parent domains for clients. I couldn't imagine them managing it offline, firstly it just wouldn't work secondly they don't have the knowledge, thirdly they don't have the software, and last, they don't even have ftp access to the server.
On some large projects I have been commissioned to work on, have seen dev, test, staging and live, or dev, staging and live.
On other projects, I create locally, export templates, install on their servers, or I deploy on my servers for testing and then zip up the complete install, ready for attaching on their servers.
DotNetNuke provides alot of scope for customisation, which, apart from the strength in skinning, and the portal functionality is one of them.
In response to the original post requesting information on Portal Aliases -I have a video for registered users - it's 22MB and covers the Portal management topic and might help those looking for answers a little more information.
These are just my opinions in this area, since I'm not a public hosting company, but provide only premium, custom and managed hosting for clients who just want their sites managed and not the control panels and ftp and other things that come with hosting packages. And having managed my own servers for several years, feel that in this space the information I have provided here is more in line with companies / marketers of DNN who need some sort of middle level management in their DNN business solutions.
I also know of other very qualified people in this space who use this principle of updating live, upgrading locally or in live dev environment. And to be honest, it would deter alot of people from managing their sites. What about site subscribers? To synchronise that would be quite difficult. What about my forums or blogs? How would I manage that locally and then update? Dynamic websites are just that - and require different management.
That's my hat thrown in the ring.
Nina Meiers