In the past few weeks there have been many threads and posts from users that were unsuccesful at installing DNN 4, and also some were angry or at least upset that I was asking them to read the Installation Guide. This is now my standard answer when any user says he can't install DNN (any version) and starts protesting, blaming DNN team for not being clear, or creating an app that "doesn't even install".
Since I had not used DNN 4.02 at all I began to be suspicious more and more about what the problem was and if I was indeed misguiding users. Common sense dictated that the Core Team couldn't be so careless creating a troubled install and not documenting it. After all I had not had problems with the install process ever since the betas for DNN 2 came out. Therefore, my journey began. I took my own pill and decided to start by reading the installation instructions. And here is my report:
Step 1. Downloaded the Documentation zip from the downloads area. Unzipped and opened the Installation Guide pdf document.
Step 2. I had already made up my mind and decided I'd use SQL 2000 and Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition. I had already downloaded the starter kit so after looking at the table of contents, my reading started at page 27. I followed the instructions exactly. After only 10 minutes which include reading while following each step, I had DNN 4.02 up and running.
COMMENTS FOR IMPROVING:
- I was under the impression that the site would be created in IIS, but it ran from the VWD ASP.NET development web server. I came to the conclusion that it had to be because I chose the File System option when creating the web site from VWD. Obviously you have to know your way around to change the configuration for the web site, and this was my first look at VWD. The Installation Guide is not clear about all of this and says that you could customize the IIS configuration after DNN has been installed. This is only true if you choose HTTP when installing DNN from VWD. Other than that I found neat that it was possible to run it directly from the file system path.
- I do not run my websites from the ...inetpub/wwwroot directory, and I suspect that the HTTP configuration will create the virdir automatically there. The keyword is of course suspect, cause I haven't tried the HTTP option. If it is like that indeed, I wonder if there's an option to create the virdir in a customized path.
- Since VWD will by default start DNN using the VWD ASP.NET development web server, there is a port appended to the localhost root URL; however if by any chance you add that port to be used by another application in IIS, there will be conflicts. VWD uses dynamic ports by default, so I'd changed that setting inmediately to false for DNN. Running from IIS will require first to add an alias in DNN and then create the virdir with that Alias. That virdir could use a port or not, but it must be different than the one used by VWD to be able to identify which web server is running the DNN instance presented by the browser. Seasoned developers might realize this without much trouble, but others might find it confusing. This could be added to the Installation Guide as a Tip.
Based on my experience in this scenario, and being succesful at my first attempt, be reassured that I'll keep directing users to reading the Installation Guide. I am not sure when I'll have time to test the other possible installation paths (Install/Source/Starter Kit with HTTP option all with SQL 200 and SQL 2005 alternatives), but I am pretty sure it will confirm that document is accurate and has all the vital information to install DNN.