mgrimaldi wrote
Your installation model is horrible. Go back to the drawing board if you ever want to be taken seriously. I have no choice but to dissuade people from checking Dot Net Nuke out. Thanks for nothing.
I had similar feelings at first, especially prior to having DotNetNuke up and running. I had many years of application development using MS Technologies including asp3, com+, sql server, etc., but was light on .NET and wanted to "catch-up". After successfully installing DotNetNuke, v3.10 at the time, I posted on this forum every once in awhile to assist those with installation issues. I also posted here after upgrading to DNN4, and after I resolved some issues I ran into with ASP.NET 2, SQL 2K5, and Win2K3. For some posts I layed out a step-by-step process for installing DNN trying to take into consideration the various configurations users have, regardless of how trivial they appear.
Eventually, I took a look at the documentation that comes with DNN, the installation posts given by the core members, and the installation instructions in the Wrox DotNetNuke 4 book. What I found was that I didn't add anything extra in my posts and that the installation instructions given by the DotNetNuke team where much better. At first I wondered how I missed this, but it was obvious that when I installed DotNetNuke for the first few times I never really hunkered down and spent the time to read the instructions and refer back to them when I had issues.
I read your post and you don't mention what issues you are having or ask for assistance on setting up the database, setting up the NT account so that it has adequate permissions for the website. I assume you are installing DNN 4, but only because you refer to the latest Wrox book which covers DNN4 (and DNN3). There is no reference to what your setup is like in IIS 6 on your Win2K3 server, which by default is locked down and very different in this sense than IIS 5.x in a WinXP machine. An experienced developer will break down a problem into manageable parts, some of which I just listed, so that s/he can eliminate or identify potential issues. Some examples would be:
1) Can you create a simple website that can run an aspx page?
2) Can you communicate with your SQL Server database? You could create an ODBC datasource and after successfully connecting to it, make sure your connection string in the web.config file has the same credentials.
3) Are you able to add the asp.net account and apply "Full Control" to this account? Does the account have the same permissions on sub-folders or do you need to replace permissions on the sub-folders.
I would not give up on trying to install DNN. I take your word that you are experienced and this cannot be the first time you seemed to have hit a brick wall. Pretend your adversary is the computer, which you have no intentions of giving in to. When your blood pressure has reached the red zone, take a break and do something else. Post here with specifics, and in parts identifying what you can and cannot do. When you become an expert installing DNN and working with it, share your experience and understand that your contributions are a team effort. The questions you will begin to ask when you understand this open source initiative will be questions of how you believe you can make the application better.
I wish you the best and look forward to hearing your progress and ultimate success with DNN.
John