>Thanks for the reply, John, but that method sounds too unsure and/or unsafe for me to try from that description.
the unsure bit depends on your hosting provider - dnn will have no problem accessing the database on the old sql server if the hosting provider on both the dnn3 and dnn4 allow cross domain access to the sql database server. Most will - you just need to check with your providers.
You can backup the dnn3 database on the dnn3 sql provider account and if the provider allows it then download it and again if the dnn4 sql provider allows it upload the backup to the dnn4 provider they or you depending on your hosting provider can then restore the backup on the dnn4 sql server and then you can run the dnn4 upgrade. - basically the dnn4 upgrade pack will overwrite any dnn3 core files anyway so you should not need to actually have dnn3 running on the dnn4 provider site only the private non core files in portals and the database
for a number of my clients I run their database on my sql server under a different domain name then the clients and that creates no problems. If you change the db connection string in the dnn4 web config - backup your dnn3 database then run the upgrade on the dnn4 you should have dnn4 running - you will most probably be missing some of your skins as they will be on the dnn3 site and some of the private files in the portals will be missing as they are still on the dnn3 site however if you then ftp then across every thing should still work ok. You will need to update the prtal alisas before the upgrade in the dnn3 database with the new dnn4 domain. If you are moving domain names also then use a stop gap domian name if your dnn4 hosting provider has them.
after thinking about it for a while I can't see why this procedure will not work - if it fails then simply restore the dnn3 database and you are back to the start again.
The other method is to setup a new dnn4 on the dnn4 provider - on the dnn3 site create a template with content included and ftp that to the dnn4 site then apply that template to the dnn4 site - this will get the layout for you and some data depending on what modules you use. However it will not copy users across There is a program that will copy users from one site to the other available check google for it.
The final method is to creat the template of the dnn3 site apply it to the dnn4 site then do some cut and paste from one site to the other for the content.
Some hosting providers will move the database from one sql server to another for you (at a cost) - this would be the best solution as the two sql administrators can sort out the name chages etc once the database has been moved to the new sql server then it is a simple upgrade procedure for dnn
I have mirror sites on my inhouse server for all my clients thus to upgrade from 2 to 3 and 3 to 4 I do that on my inhouse server then I move the upgraded database to the client server. Do not do any upgrades live - in your situation mirror your dnn3 site on your inhouse computer do the upgrade - if all goes well then install full dnn4 on the dnn4 server and then upload the database and any custom modules and files etc to the live server. Long way around but the upgrades do not always work and you may find that you have to do an incremental upgrade thro the versions ayway. In dnn upgrading thro the major version number ie dnn1-dnn2-dnn3-dnn4 creates some problems as each major version number is a major jump in the core. - to move from dnn2 to 3 you cannot simply upgrade from 2 to the latest 3 you have to go to 3.1.0 - 3.3.5 then 3..3.7 the same applies for version 3 to 4 you cannot go directly from 3.3.7 to the latest 4 ( some times it works and some times it does not)