I've got one week coming up to get this done and any pointers would be greatly appreciated...

I have a DNN3.2.2 site with several custom modules I've made which I need to upgrade to DNN4.5.  I'm going to go from the 1.1 framework to the 2.0 framework.  I have a new computer that I'm fitting with the 2.0 framework and will be getting the newest Visual Studio suite.

I'm not sure what I need to do to my modules to get them DNN4 compliant but that will be my first step using my local environment.

After that's done...I'm assuming I can copy my DNN3.2.2 live website to a new server that is running the 2.0 framework and run some kind of install script that should update the site (with my custom modules removed).  Is this the case?  Then I'd install my new custom modules and SQL tables if needed.

Does this sound feasible?  I need my userids to remain untouched in the process which I imagine shouldn't be a problem.

Any help would really be appreciated.  I tried to hire someone to do this upgrade before but couldnt' find anyone (DNNers are busy) but now I'm ready to bite the bullet.  Thanks in advance for the warnings, advice, etc.

Thanks Chris.  I'll definitely do that first.  I had thought there was a new scheme for packaging modules...ie the Private Assembly .zip files didn't work anymore.  Maybe this isn't the case which would be great.  Many of my modules use the users table but I should be able to fix them if it's just a different method to call.  No biggie.

Once I have a know which modules will need to be upgraded I'll remove those from my existing DNN3.2.2 website pages so they don't throw any errors.  I'm fuzzy on how to upgrade the site though.  I would imagine I need to copy it over to a new server that runs ASP.NET 2.0 but then how do I get it to upgrade to a newer version?  Do I need to install the latest code base on top of/over it and run it...and let it automatically upgade itself (somehow I doubt it)?  Should I go from DNN3.2.2 to DNN3.3 first and repeat the process all the way up to the newest code base?

Chris,

If I keep the custom modules I have on there and upgrade over it...won't those modules throw errors when the site comes up especially if they're on the home page?  I don't want to upgrade only to find a critical error that keeps me from being able to log in.  Maybe this isn't the case with the newer version but I was under the impression I want to get the modules squared away first.

If I use the INSTALL package instead of the SOURCE package will I be able to use Visual Studio 2005 to develop?  I read something in the installation doc specifying the source version instead of the install version.

There is a good chance I'm thinking about this wrong.  Been over a year since I upgraded my site from 2.1.2 to 3.2....