Salakhetdinov Shamil
mcp2004 at mail.ru
Sun Jul 15 06:03:32 CDT 2012
Hi Jim -- Yes, DNN is known to have uneasy route when upgrading DNN-driven web sites from version to version 3.x -> 4.x, 4.x->5.x but 5.x -> 6.x transition is working much better AFAIHH. And as I have noted previously if DatabaseAdvisors web site will be ever moved to DNN platform then it will be mainly using HTML and other DNN modules, which shouldn't be an issue to upgrade (will that upgrade be needed at all? - DNN v.6.x looks "perfect"): at least there always be export/import modules contents manual or automated upgrade route/option to apply... As for hosting - PowerDNN (http://www.powerdnn.com/Hosting/CreateaNewSite/ChooseaPlan/tabid/292/Default.aspx) (or similar options) looks good for me - their start-up plan (USD50/month) - does it look affordable for DatabaseAdvisors? I personally would not mind to Paypal 50-100 USD if there will be made a decision within DatabaseAdvisors group/boards of directors to move to DNN platform. When the new site will be up&running and when/if it will attract more traffic it could be possible to try to monetize it using AdWords etc. to try to earn money for PowerDNN "Small Business" hosting plan - USD100/months. Of course it's easy to say but not easy to do... Another up-front spending would be a custom DNN skin for DatabaseAdvisors site - it would cost around USD1000 for good professional skin with not that much graphics AFAIK - here again I'd not mind to PayPal some money to collect the whole sum together than try to do that skin design by ourselves as this work requires knowing DNN skinning "tricky" details which I personally don't know... As for porting current DatabaseAdvisors contents to a DNN site - we can share that work - as you proposed we can first make prototype site and then move it to a hosting site... But please the will to move to DNN shouldn't be just mine, Gustav's, yours - the initiative/support/participating group should be (much) larger - everybody is busy with their own business ... Thank you. -- Shamil Sat, 14 Jul 2012 20:11:53 -0700 от "Jim Lawrence" <accessd at shaw.ca>: Hi Shamil: The original site was DNN 5.x which had been migrated from 4.x a year or so ago. There were a number of third-party apps installed with their own custom skins/features. Looking back we should have known or suspected that an upgrade to 6.x was going to be a problem. Unfortunately, if the upgrade was just a mater of backing up the application or maybe just clearing out the old application, all together, it would have been easy to isolate the problems. The program though is tightly integrated with the MS SQL server for not only its data but also its entire layout and control. It turns out that many of the third-party extensions were not compatible, no longer worked the same, some cost a fair amount to upgrade and had integrated themselves directly in with the DNN's MS SQL source control data. They caused all sorts of errors and issues. Additionally, many features, stored within the data are location dependant and do not easily migrate. Looking back we should have just set up a new independent server, with the new MS SQL, installed the latest DNN and slowly added in feature by feature. When all things were running perfectly then we should have gone on line. My friend probably rushed ahead as all that he had read, said that the upgrade would be trivial. Maybe this time will be easy as we are starting from an absolutely clean install. Jim <<< snip >>>