For the beginner (which I seem to always be...)

Just wanted to share my interactions, resolves and opinions of running DotNetNuke on a shared hosting Lunarpages account.

History:

Way back when I got interested in DNN (V 4.), I saw $ signs and employment opportunities galore!

As I weeded through the platform, my interest grew. What kept me interested? I'll never know because it's not easy ingesting all this technical jargon and, as Captain Picard would say, "make it so..." for the client.

Upon moving from one web host to another I experienced a lot of "issues"... Who has the time to address my questions? Why is my site not fast? How do I do this and that??? (mostly due to ignorance and inexperience on my part)

It's at that point where I learned how to move DNN websites from one host to another. (quickly and under my own perceived pressure and my commitment to my clients)

Currently:

Now that I've found some stability with DNN, I still see $ signs, but I realize I can't do it myself (as I once thought.)

I currently run one, yes, one stable DNN site for a dear customer of mine, Trans Canada Chrysler in Wawa, Ontario Canada.

At one time, I had 3 or 4 DNN installs that I tried to maintain fruitlessly.

Summary:

DotNetNuke can be run on a shared Windows hosting accounts at Lunarpages... Point Blank!

What you need in yourself is patience of the umpteenth degree, a patient customer that knows you are trying to service their needs and experienced staff members that can "ingest" all of our beginner chaos and "make it so..."

I'm not here to wage a war between webhosts, but I'd simply like to say that the only OTHER place that I would host a DNN site is at PowerDnn. The only reason I"m not there is because of the price. But look at this? I now get the service level of PDNN for the price of Lunarpages...  And top-notch service... They understand what I want and how to resolve it... It just takes time (which we all have)

Now I'm talking about entry level development of course... Now, it is my hope that Lunarpages could see a service area for development within the DNN arena and provide more focus/dedicated services and support on this DNN platform. (then again, maybe I'm stuck in DNN world, while everyone else has adopted something easier and more stable??? I don't know?)

And so it's because I know how to illustrate my issues with the technicians and my client's patience, that I've found great success with Lunarpages On DNN.

To the "beginner" I sympathize and wish you luck and may this little story help you in your passage of working with web hosting and DNN.

Best regards,

Robert Barbeiro
Network Administrator
CDI College of Business and Technology Ottawa.
raintowers.com (radical statement site...nothing more)

If I can help in some way, don't hesitate to contact me to admin at raintowers.com K?

I am using DNN on a current website hosted on an unreliable server.  I now have an account with Lunar Pages on Plesk ready to use.  I don't know where to go from here.  I read the posts and still don't know how to begin moving files to a new server. 

In reading some posts, I came across questions such as:  'how to install DNN into the root directory of the domain?' and 'Web Application installation of DNN via Plesk'.

Do I need to install DNN?  In the specs on a Windows hosting plan, under the ASP.net Applications tab, DNN is listed as included.  What does that mean?

I have 9 websites up and running-I use Dreamweaver for those. 

My main questions are:  What do I do to get started moving files from one server to another?  My first bump is the client has the domain name registered with a different company.  Currently the nameserver is pointed to Lunarpages.  I know I do not have all the files I need off the old server.

Any nudge in the right direction will be helpful.