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HomeHomeGetting StartedGetting StartedInstalling DNN ...Installing DNN ...Best way to upgrade a DNN installation? And what is a "upgrade package" really?Best way to upgrade a DNN installation? And what is a "upgrade package" really?
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10/16/2009 4:03 AM
 
Patrik Johansson


Joined: 8/5/2004
Posts: 333

If you look at the download page you will see this of "Upgrade":

"Contains only the files needed for upgrading an existing installation (does not include module packages). Download the Upgrade Package if you want to upgrade an existing installation to a newer version."

This sounds very good, but if you actually compare the contents of the Upgrade and Installation packages, you will quickly see that this just isn't true. Just having a look under "admin" will tell you that several user controls are missing in the upgrade packages, that are in the install package. This would be somewhat logical if the upgrade was only possible from the latest previous version, but I can't find any information to the installer/upgrader that this is the case, and the functionality to upgrade the database from earlier versions seem to be in there.

I was asked by client yesterday to upgrade their early DNN4 installation to DNN5 so I tried the upgrade packages, but once I finally manged to get through the upgrade process, I got an installation where the DLLs where upgraded, but the user controls were still outdated, thus resulting in several problems.

So, here are my 2 questions, first, what is the actual purpose and limitiations of the upgrade packages and second, what is the best way to actually upgrade a DNN installation in a safe way? I have tried to find an upgrade instruction but so far I have not managed to do so.

 
 
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10/16/2009 10:39 AM
 
Chuck

Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 75
 
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10/17/2009 9:50 AM
 
Patrik Johansson


Joined: 8/5/2004
Posts: 333

Actually, when I look into this more in detail, I see that it seems like the upgrade has once again failes, as the DNN site now tries to find for example:

\Admin\Localization\Languages.ascx.vb

But this file is no longer under Localization but Skins (at least a file with similar name).

I must say that after several failed attempts to uppgrade to DNN5 (even from late DNN4 version) we are now seriously considering if we can still use DNN as base for our mission critical high end web application (financial sector) as we are not sure we trust it to be honest. Yes, I know about the professional version and we wouldnt mind paying 2 grand for it, but we must first decide that DNN is still the way to go, and I have to be honest and say that I have some doubts about it, which I did not have before. Will give it a few more tries first though.

 
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10/17/2009 11:27 AM
 
Dr Pat

Joined: 4/2/2008
Posts: 37

 Hey Patrik,

I can understand your frustration. When I first started working with DNN 2 years ago I ran into the same type of problems. The great thing about DNN is that their is endless support from several communities within DNN that are fantastic. One of the earlier post shared with you Mitch Sellers site and I fully agree that his stuff is on the money and he has never steered me wrong. I always recommend that people relatively new to DNN review his content. I also recommend Chris Hammond's blogs as a reference point. When I was going through the process you are now experiencing I was having second thoughts about DNN then I reviewed:

http://www.engagesoftware.com/Blog/EntryId/54/This-is-how-I-upgrade-a-DotNetNuke-instance.aspx

And a few other post's by Chris and Mitch that helped me better understand the importance of "Back up Everything, Test on Staging server, then upgrade"

Because there are so many third party modules that can be installed this can create conflicts with the upgrade process if your third party modules are not compatible with the version you are installing and this often happen today with upgrades from 4 to 5. My best understanding of the upgrade package is that it is for upgrading from one version to the next, e.g. 5.1.1 to 5.1.2 and in any other circumstance you are better off to use the install package.

I just recently upgraded 9 installations from 4.9.3 to 5.1.4 without a single snag (because I identified all the snags in my testing environment first). There were 6 3rd party modules that I needed to get the most recent version for after making the upgrade but fortunately I knew this before upsetting my production environments.

My experience tells me that DNN is going to keep getting better and better because it has only continued to impress me more and more in the last two years.

Cheers,

Pat

Healing the world one spine at a time. Chiropractic Websites using the DNN Framework.
 
New Post
10/17/2009 11:46 AM
 
Dr Pat

Joined: 4/2/2008
Posts: 37

 Hey Patrik,

The article I provided in my earlier post has a couple follow up articles by Chris Hammond that relate to making the process of upgrading easier and the reason why to use the install package in preference to the upgrade package:

Here is Chris Hammonds post on the upgrading process.

Here is Chris Hammonds follow up article in regards to not needing to change the web.config from 4.6.2

Cheers,

Pat

Healing the world one spine at a time. Chiropractic Websites using the DNN Framework.
 
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