DNN & Godaddy.com Root

Installing DNN To The Root Of Any Godaddy.com Windows Plan

I would like to welcome everyone to the new walkthrough for installing DotNetNuke 4.8, and many older versions, to the root of a Godaddy.com Windows hosting account including the economy level plans (as long as you have an available database to use). The walkthrough is broken down into several basic sections to make life a little easier for those who don't want to slam through the entire through from front to end without stopping.

Setting Up The Database & Directories Needed Through the HCC

You will want to follow the basic directions below to set your databases and directories needed, please note that your control panel may look slightly different, but most should be close to the below directions/pictures.

1. Login to your customer account at http://www.godaddy.com
2. Click on your hosting account list on the "My Account" page
3. Click the corresponding "Open" link under the "Control Panel" column for the appropriate domain
4. Click on the "Databases" section and then click on "SQL Server"
5. You will want to click on "Create Database"
6. At this point you will want to enter your information for the database ensuring that you check the option for "ASP Schema", your screen should look close to this

You will now want to go back to your hosting account and click on "Directory Management" under the "Content" section if you are still on the old permissions manager setup, or click on "File Manager" under "Content" if you are on the new permissions management setup. The easiest way to tell what you are current only is this, if you don't have FrontPage extensions installed but you are still missing the "Directory Management" section you are on the new permissions management setup. Please note you can't have FrontPage extensions installed if you want to run DNN on Godaddy.com hosting because of the interference it causes with directory permissions.

Directory Management

1. Click on "Create Directory" and then enter your details, which your screen should look something like the below image

2. You will want to create the following directories with the permissions listed
A DNN temp directory for the root DNN files as in, _dnntemp, Read/Web/Write/Set Root
App_Code, Read/Write
App_Code\HTML, Read/Write
App_Code\Links, Read/Write
App_Data, Read/Write
App_Browser, Read/Write
bin, Read/Write
Config, Read/Write
App_GlobalResources, Read/Web/Write
Components, Read/Web/Write
controls, Read/Web/Write
DesktopModules, Read/Web/Write
DesktopModules\HTML, Read/Web/Write
DesktopModules\Links, Read/Web/Write
images, Read/Web/Write
Install, Read/Web/Write
js, Read/Web/Write
Portals, Read/Web/Write
Providers, Read/Web/Write

File Manager

1. Click on "Create New Directory" on the left hand side and then enter the directory name and click ok. You can continue on this method to create all the folders needed, and for the folders within folders listed you can simply click on the parent folder name and then click "Create New Directory" to create a directory inside of that one. Alternatively you can create all of the below directions via FTP and then come back to apply these permissions through the "File Manager", which to apply the permissions, you check the box next to the file you want to apply them to and click on "Permissions" on the top button row closer to the right hand side.
A DNN temp directory for the root DNN files as in, _dnntemp, Read/Write
App_Code, Read/Write
App_Code\HTML, Read/Write
App_Code\Links, Read/Write
App_Data, Read/Write
App_Browser, Read/Write
bin, Read/Write
Config, Read/Write
App_GlobalResources, Read/Write
Components, Read/Write
controls, Read/Write
DesktopModules, Read/Write
DesktopModules\HTML, Read/Write
DesktopModules\Links, Read/Write
images, Read/Write
Install, Read/Write
js, Read/Write
Portals, Read/Write
Providers, Read/Write

2. Now to set the additional permissions such as Web (anonymous access) and application roots for some of these folders you have to use the "IIS Settings" listed under the "Content" section.
A DNN temp directory for the root DNN files as in, _dnntemp, Read/Write
App_Code, Read/Write
App_Code\HTML, Read/Write
App_Code\Links, Read/Write
App_Data, Read/Write
App_Browser, Read/Write
bin, Read/Write
Config, Read/Write
App_GlobalResources, Read/Write
Components, Read/Write
controls, Read/Write
DesktopModules, Read/Write
DesktopModules\HTML, Read/Write
DesktopModules\Links, Read/Write
images, Read/Write
Install, Read/Write
js, Read/Write
Portals, Read/Write
Providers, Read/Write
3. You will need to go to "IIS Settings" to set the Set Root and Web options as these are not listed in the "File Manager" in the newer permissions management configuration. You will need to create the directory name and check "Anonymous Access" for web and "Set Application Root" for set root options. Don't worry about already having the directory created in the "File Manager", this location only applies the permissions to the directory if it already exists and does not remove/recreate it
_dnntemp, Anonymous Access/Set Application Root
App_GlobalResources, Anonymous Access/Set Application Root
Components, Anonymous Access/Set Application Root
controls, Anonymous Access/Set Application Root
DesktopModules, Anonymous Access/Set Application Root
DesktopModules\HTML, Anonymous Access/Set Application Root
DesktopModules\Links, Anonymous Access/Set Application Root
images, Anonymous Access/Set Application Root
Install, Anonymous Access/Set Application Root
js, Anonymous Access/Set Application Root
Portals, Anonymous Access/Set Application Root
Providers, Anonymous Access/Set Application Root

Modifying Your Web.Config

Now we have come down to the last few steps to get DNN running on the root of a Godaddy.com hosting account. First we need to modify the web.config found in the DNN installation pack. If you have not already downloaded the latest and greatest version yet from http://dotnetnuke.com then now would be the time to do so. Once you have the installation zip file go ahead and unzip the package to a local directory of your choice and open the web.config in your favorite text editor, but preferably one that does not use any hidden formating, so something like Notepad or Notepad++ will work great.

1. Open web.config in your favorite editor such as Notepad or Notepad++
2. You will want to look for the following line to comment it out. You do this by moving the --> at then right of Express to the right of "Sysmte.Data.SQLClient" /> instead

<add
   name="SiteSqlServer"
   connectionString="Data Source=.\SQLExpress;Integrated Security=True;User Instance=True;AttachDBFilename=|DataDirectory|Database.mdf;"
   providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />

3. Once you have commented out the above line you will then need to uncomment the below line. You do this by moving the --> on the line below "System.Data.SqlClient" /> to the right of the 2000/2005 line

4. You will also need to do the same to the below lines as well, simply moving the --> on the right of modules to the right of the final line "database.mdf;"/>"

<add key="SiteSqlServer" value="Data Source=.\SQLExpress;Integrated Security=True;User Instance=True;AttachDBFilename=|DataDirectory|Database.mdf;"/>

5. You will then need to uncomment the following lines by removing the --> underneath of the "SiteSqlServer" and placing it to the right of the word modules

6. For each database connection string that you uncommented above you will want to replace "Server=(local);Database=DotNetNuke;uid=;pwd=;" with "Server=<database host name>;Database=<database name>;uid=<your database username>;pwd=<your database password>;"
7. You will then want to change the line "<add key="UseInstallWizard" value="true"/>" to "<add key="UseInstallWizard" value="fales"/>" to disable the install wizard to aviod the errors that are associated with attemptnig to run this in the Godaddy.com environment
8. You will then want to change the line "<customErrors mode="RemoteOnly"/>" to "<customErrors mode="Off"/>" so if any errors arise you will see the real error instead of a generic error message
9. You will also want to change some of the characters in the "validationKey" and "decryptionKey" to make your encryption and validation key unique to your install for added security

Your web.config is now ready to go, the next steps deal with the FTP process as there are some unique steps to be taken here.

Moving Content Up To Hosting Account

Now we are coming to the final steps to get the DNN installation package properly deployed to the Godaddy.com hosting space. There are some unique steps required here so please follow through them all.

1. You will want to of course first bring up your favorite FTP tool, I personally use FileZilla myself, and browse to the directory where your DNN package was extracted

2. You will then want to select only the folders themselves and then upload just them, normally you can right click and click upload after selecting only the folders

3. Once you have all of the folders uploaded you will then want to upload the files that set on the root of your DNN installation packge to the special temporary folder setup for them, remember we used _dnntemporary

4. You will now want to transfer all of the files from the _dnntemporary directory to the root of the installation by simply highlighting all files, then dragging them to the .. above them, this basically moves the files with the current permissions they have to the root which helps to bypass the permission setting restrictions on the root of the account

5. Once you have done this you will also need to copy the contents of the config folder to the root from within it, not sure where I heard this one from but it seems to help avoid some errors, after that just re-upload the config folder again so you will have the original contents back in it as well

Finalizing The Installation & Post Installation Cleanup

1. You will want to load your favorite browser now, I personally use FireFox most of the time and go to your site in the browser

2. Once you have entered your domain name in the address bar simply hit enter or click on the go button and watch your new DNN portal actually install to the Godaddy.com hosting root, once done click on "Click Here To Access Your Portal" to go to your new DNN application

3. The very first thing you are going to want to do is login to your new portal as the host and then as admin to change the password for each account as it is highly dangerous to keep the default login information

4. Once you have updated the login information you will still need to connect back to your site via ftp and rename the Install folder to prevent anyone from destroying your portal by attempting to re-run the installation again

You are now free and ready to go ahead and start setting up your portal as you see fit, happy DNN’ing all! If you have questions or need help please feel free to post any issues in the forum started specifically for this walkthrough located at this link. You have to sign up to post, but membership is free so you have nothing to lose.