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HomeHomeGetting StartedGetting StartedInstalling DNN ...Installing DNN ...Problems After Server CrashProblems After Server Crash
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1/19/2009 4:33 PM
 

I'm hoping someone out there can give me a little help on this.

Let me explain what happened:

Our main web server crashed.  Taking down our DNN site with it.  Have backups of the data, but the server is toast and have had to build a new one.

Move the directory structure and the database information to the new computer.

Old computer was Windows Small Business Server 2003, this one is Windows Server 2003 R2. 

Have SQL 2005 on the new, SQL 2000 was on the old one.

Got the web.config changed by renaming the database and user and then copying the machine key information from another instance of DNN installed on the same box. 

Now, when I get to the website, it would appear it has worked.  But it hasn't.

First and foremost, I can't login.  User names and passwords that are definitely correct do not work.  I can however, register a new user and without logging that user out grant it SuperUser priveledges through SQL.  Thus giving me a workaround to the host status.  That doesn't really help a whole lot though, because when you try to change any settings (such as the logo bar that no longer shows up) you get a crash. 

Almost all the errors are:

Object reference not set to an instance of an object

Things of note:

Moving from 2000 to 2005 would appear to have hosed some of my users and roles.  Can no longer edit or drop the dbo user or role on the database.

When requesting a password reminder, the reminder gets sent but the password is either blank or stars. 

 

If anyone wants the error codes, I'll get them on here. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Matt

 
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1/19/2009 4:54 PM
 

Please post errors messages from the DNN event viewer.



Alex Shirley


 
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1/19/2009 6:01 PM
 

Matt ~

Couple of things.  First, and I know you're in a bind. but restoring from a crash and upgrading at the same time is probably adding to the difficulty.  That said, the DB change should not affect the site users ability to login (manipulating the SQL logins is entirely separate and a function of SQL which you can address irrespective of DotNetNuke).  This sounds like a mismatched machine key?  Did you retrieve the key from a previous backup of the SAME site?  The machinekey is randomly generated for each install for security purposes.  What version of DNN are you running?

Scott


Scott Willhite, Co-Founder DNN

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly... what is essential is invisible to the eye. "
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

 
New Post
1/20/2009 12:14 PM
 

Scott - Thanks!

The upgrade/restore option wasn't really what I had intended on doing.  Already had a dev machine I was playing with when the real thing crashed.  Tried to move over the data in a fools errand, but that definitely did not work.

In response to that failure, I decided to do the following:

1. Did a seperate installation of the 3.1.0 build in order to (I thought) generate the correct machine keys for this server.  Then I could copy/paste them into the global.config of the backup installation. 

2. Made a new folder/IIS setup for the old setup.  Copied the files and restored the database from the backup.  Changed the username/password and the server information in global.config and hoped for the best. 

Is there a better way to generate the machine key?

Also, I want to stress that there's something acting funky in SQL.  The users in the SQL setup (not the DNN database) are strange and cannot be modified.  This may be a totally unrelated issue, but has anyone had this happen while moving from 2000 to 2005?

Seems like the server itself passes the security check to create the user, but whenever you try to login and it sees it coming from another location, you're blocked.  Here's what I got off the Log Viewer for the application crashes.

AssemblyVersion: 03.01.00
Method: System.Web.Util.StringUtil.GetStringHashCode
FileName:
FileLineNumber: 0
FileColumnNumber: 0
PortalID: 2
PortalName: Portal
UserID: -1
UserName:
ActiveTabID: 128
ActiveTabName: Home
AbsoluteURL: /default.aspx
AbsoluteURLReferrer: http://----------------------------
ExceptionGUID: a8132f7f-4d0c-48a8-9b79-3217c41a1610
DefaultDataProvider: DotNetNuke.Data.SqlDataProvider, DotNetNuke.SqlDataProvider
InnerException: Unhandled Error:
Message: System.Exception: Unhandled Error: ---> DotNetNuke.Services.Exceptions.PageLoadException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. ---> System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. at System.Web.Util.StringUtil.GetStringHashCode(String s) at System.Web.UI.ClientScriptManager.EnsureEventValidationFieldLoaded() at System.Web.UI.ClientScriptManager.ValidateEvent(String uniqueId, String argument) at System.Web.UI.Control.ValidateEvent(String uniqueID, String eventArgument) at System.Web.UI.WebControls.TextBox.LoadPostData(String postDataKey, NameValueCollection postCollection) at System.Web.UI.WebControls.TextBox.System.Web.UI.IPostBackDataHandler.LoadPostData(String postDataKey, NameValueCollection postCollection) at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessPostData(NameValueCollection postData, Boolean fBeforeLoad) at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) --- End of inner exception stack trace --- at DotNetNuke.Services.Exceptions.Exceptions.ProcessPageLoadException(Exception exc, String URL) at DotNetNuke.Framework.PageBase.Page_Error(Object Source, EventArgs e) at System.Web.UI.TemplateControl.OnError(EventArgs e) at System.Web.UI.Page.HandleError(Exception e) at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest() at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestWithNoAssert(HttpContext context) at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest(HttpContext context) at ASP.default_aspx.ProcessRequest(HttpContext context) at System.Web.HttpApplication.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() at System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
StackTrace:
Source:
Server Name: NEWWEBSERVER

And here is an example of the Object Reference Errors I keep getting semi-randomly.

Server Error in '/' Application.

Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Source Error:

Line 115:
Line 116:<ItemTemplate>
Line 117:				<asp:Label ID="lblEmail" Runat="server" Text='<%# DisplayEmail(CType(Container.DataItem, DotNetNuke.Entities.Users.UserInfo).Membership.Email) %>'>
Line 118: </asp:Label> Line 119:

Source File: C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\Takota_Portal\Admin\Users\Users.ascx    Line: 117

Stack Trace:

[NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.]
   DotNetNuke.Common.Globals.formatEmail(String Email) +6
   DotNetNuke.Modules.Admin.Users.UserAccounts.DisplayEmail(String Email) +31

[ModuleLoadException: Error: User Accounts is currently unavailable.]
   DotNetNuke.Services.Exceptions.Exceptions.ProcessModuleLoadException(String FriendlyMessage, PortalModuleBase ctrlModule, Exception exc, Boolean DisplayErrorMessage) +451
   DotNetNuke.Services.Exceptions.Exceptions.ProcessModuleLoadException(PortalModuleBase ctrlModule, Exception exc) +84
   DotNetNuke.Modules.Admin.Users.UserAccounts.DisplayEmail(String Email) +57
   ASP.Users_ascx.__DataBind__control44(Object sender, EventArgs e) in C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\Takota_Portal\Admin\Users\Users.ascx:117
   System.Web.UI.Control.OnDataBinding(EventArgs e) +66
   System.Web.UI.Control.DataBind() +26
   System.Web.UI.Control.DataBind() +86
   System.Web.UI.Control.DataBind() +86
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.DataGrid.CreateItem(Int32 itemIndex, Int32 dataSourceIndex, ListItemType itemType, Boolean dataBind, Object dataItem, DataGridColumn[] columns, TableRowCollection rows, PagedDataSource pagedDataSource) +169
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.DataGrid.CreateControlHierarchy(Boolean useDataSource) +1406
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.BaseDataList.OnDataBinding(EventArgs e) +48
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.BaseDataList.DataBind() +23
   DotNetNuke.Modules.Admin.Users.UserAccounts.BindData(String SearchText, String SearchField) +1233
   DotNetNuke.Modules.Admin.Users.UserAccounts.btnSearch_Click(Object sender, ImageClickEventArgs e) +76
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.ImageButton.OnClick(ImageClickEventArgs e) +109
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.ImageButton.System.Web.UI.IPostBackEventHandler.RaisePostBackEvent(String eventArgument) +69
   System.Web.UI.Page.RaisePostBackEvent(IPostBackEventHandler sourceControl, String eventArgument) +18
   System.Web.UI.Page.RaisePostBackEvent(NameValueCollection postData) +33
   System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain() +1292

[PageLoadException: Error: User Accounts is currently unavailable.]
   DotNetNuke.Services.Exceptions.Exceptions.ProcessPageLoadException(Exception exc, String URL) +345
   DotNetNuke.Framework.PageBase.Page_Error(Object Source, EventArgs e) +365
   System.Web.UI.TemplateControl.OnError(EventArgs e) +109
   System.Web.UI.Page.HandleError(Exception e) +68
   System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain() +2100
   System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest() +218
   System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest(HttpContext context) +18
   System.Web.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication+IExecutionStep.Execute() +179
   System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) +87


Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:1.1.4322.2407; ASP.NET Version:1.1.4322.2407

Thanks!

 
New Post
1/21/2009 1:55 PM
 

Problem resolved.

Here were the steps I took:

  • Snagged the MachineKey & ConnectionString information from the original web.config file.  
  • Made sure there weren't any conflicts in the application pools.  Was using .NET 1 and that must have been part of the problem.
  • Step Upgraded to 4.x

After that everything worked fine. 

At least so far.

Thanks,

Matt

 

 
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