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There is a current install of DNN on one of my local webservers - this was installed before I took over this position. I am trying to add a second site, but the instructions I am following appear to be for attaching an existing site. Do I simply run the installer to create a new site in addition to the current? I've never used DNN before, so I am going at this blind.

All information I am finding is referencing the same as the instructions link I provided. Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

To add a little bit more information, here is another area where I am confused. Referencing the link, it states #2 to add a binding to my site, then #3 is to add the new portal. What I am trying to do is create a new DNN site - one does not yet exist, so I cannot do step 2 until a new portal is created. As said, I've never used DNN. I was tasked today to have this done by July 4th (nice, huh) so today is the first I am looking at DNN ever.

What I have done is added a new portal and I assumed it would create a new bare-bones site for me, but that is not what happened (obviously). So, instead of just adding an existing site for DNN, how do I add a new one (that is why I asked if I needed to reinstall)? From what I understand, there was an initial website setup with the installation of DNN. That basic site served what they needed - I need to do the same thing again, but, as can be seen, I've no clue how to do so.

Erik
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2 Answers2

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No, you don't run the installer again. Remember DotNetNuke is PORTAL Hosting software, meaning with just 1 install you can run ~unlimited websites (of course there's always limits, depending on the hardware you're running on).

For instance if you're DNN install is running on www.myweb.com, and you want to add a site for www.yourweb.com, you simply point your DNS entry for www.yourweb.com to the IP of your DNN install, should be the same IP as www.myweb.com.

You then log into your DNN install as a HOST (superuser) user. You can't do this from using the Admin Login for www.myweb.com, that admin won't have the permissions to add a portal. When you do login as Host, you'll see two more menu items appear, 'Admin' and 'Host'. Admin pertains to functions you want to accomplish ONLY on www.myweb.com, the Host menu applies to the ENTIRE DNN install, including ALL portals you've setup.

Depending on your version number, you probably will see either 'Portals' or 'Site Management' (if it's a newer install, like 6.0+), once you click on or drop the HOST menu.

From there you fill out the specifics regarding your new www.youweb.com website, including the url and any aliases you want. Once you do that and the DNS propegates, you'll then be able to go to www.youweb.com and login and set that site up.

Barrett Alexander
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  • That I understand. That's what was detailed in the instructions. I added a new "portal", I assumed the website would be created as well. Say I had 2011docrepo.mysite.com - my administration wants a new site, seperate from that, called stategicplanning.mysite.com (mysite.com being locally hosted). I created the latter under the hosts link as you said, but it did not create the site. It was added under the portals, but no pages were created. – Erik Jul 02 '12 at 21:13
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Step #2 is talking about adding a binding in IIS, not doing anything in DNN. You need to tell IIS about strategicplanning.mysite.com, so that it will send requests for that URL to your DNN site.

So, the process looks like this:

  1. Make sure that the DNS record for strategicplanning.mysite.com points to your web server's IP address.
  2. In IIS, update the host header bindings for the current application to include strategicplanning.mysite.com.
  3. a. If you only have one portal in your DNN installation, at this point, trying to navigate to strategicplanning.mysite.com will automatically add it as a portal alias for that one portal.
    b. If you have multiple portals in your DNN installation, at this point, trying to navigate to strategicplanning.mysite.com will show an error message about that URL not corresponding to an existing site.
  4. In DotNetNuke, you need to go to the Site Management page in the Host menu (previously called Portals), and use the Manage/Action menu to add a new site. In the form that comes up, use strategicplanning.mysite.com as the alias (keep it marked as a parent portal), and fill in the rest of the details. If you want a blank site, make sure that you pick the Blank Website template (otherwise you'll need to delete a bunch of pages and modules you don't need).

This should be all that you need to do. If you navigate to strategicplanning.mysite.com and you see the original site, then strategicplanning.mysite.com has been added as a portal alias for that site, and you'll need to remove it (in Site Settings under the Admin menu).

bdukes
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  • OK. So how do I create a new DNN website? I created the portal, IIS and our DNS server are updated. When I go to strategicplanning.mysite.com, it brings up the default website 2011docrepo.mysite.com. I thought creating a new portal would create the new site, but it just added a nw folder in the portals folder. Let me add this second site is to be hosted on the same IIS server as the default site. – Erik Jul 03 '12 at 13:04
  • Did you add strategicplanning.mysite.com as a portal alias to your existing site, rather than create a new portal? – bdukes Jul 03 '12 at 13:06
  • no, I created a new portal (it gave me a new portal # of 10). I would like to stress that these are hosted locally inhouse on the same IIS server. Every piece of documentation I am finding describes the use of multiple hosting providers. Is it not possible to do it on the same server? – Erik Jul 03 '12 at 14:17
  • It _can't_ be done with multiple hosting providers... The whole concept of portals is that it's the same application in the file system, in IIS, and in the database. The difference in sites is only virtual. Did you create a separate application in IIS? They should be the same. – bdukes Jul 03 '12 at 14:46
  • I finally got it working. I was creating a new parent portal instead of a new child portal. I appreciate the help. – Erik Jul 03 '12 at 15:07
  • A child portal is when your portal alias includes a sub-directory, like `2011docrepo.mysite.com/new-site`. So, in that case, you'll definitely want to choose the child option, otherwise DNN won't create that directory, which is generally necessary for IIS to send those requests to DNN. Glad you got it working for you. – bdukes Jul 03 '12 at 16:13