I'm currently designing a DotNetNuke 4.x intranet site for a client. After initial release I will need a test to dev migration strategy for configuration changes. I need a strategy which will preserve the user data (registration, user assigned roles, module user settings) on the production site while migrating over configuration & content changes from test. Is there a standard script or strategy for doing something like this. It seems like it would be a fairly standard.

Thanks,
Lee Moore

Actually fairly standard would be to migrate DEV to TEST to PROD for config and then live to load content. 

Moving user based config (read settings) and content to PROD from TEST depends on the two being replicas with all the users involved preloaded with the same userID's and the installs being duplicates.  Copy PROD back to TEST, modify and then promote, but if and only if nothing at all touches or changes in PROD.  Anything changes and you will have something break (someone adds a tab or module, or entry, etc.... and the ID's no longer match).  If you do this via SQL Server, you'd have to deal with identity inserts which would only work if once again no one has done anything to the live site. 

 A better solution is to document the changes made, or use your test system to train them to replicate things on the live site themselves.  Other than that - it's a lot of table record tweaking to match TABID, MID, portalID, etc. - which I'm prepping to go through myself to a degree. 

But that's just my view - someone may have a tool developed for this if they follow this route enough. 

Yes this makes sense now!  What you could do is (assumes same web machine and web.config copied over):

1. get the prod system up and full of users
2. detach the DB
3. copy it to a new file
4. reattach the old one and have it ready to go
5. attach the copy and configure for test install
6. once all changes are made - export DB content in teh proper order using integration services or DTS

The one area I have trouble with is the user membership info.  The passwords are hashed and if you go to a different server machine, I believe you'll run into trouble.  You might be able to copy the config keys over - I'm not sure.  I don't see any clean way to do this - but there are 3rd party tools for user management to make this easier.  That's teh part I always have run into walls on.