How To Set Up Your Own Dot Net Nuke Development Environment

By Author: Sanjeev Chaudhary
Total Articles: 27
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Before you start setting up your own DNN development environment, it is important to understand what your end goals are. For instance, if you plan on developing modules for your own use or for use within your own DNN environment, the process is less complex.

However, if you are pursuing DNN development India with an aim that you will eventually give your modules away or put them on sale, you may want to consider the following guidelines that support a wide range of DNN installation environments.

It is always recommended that DotNetNuke Developers have their own local development environment that is complete with a local IIS website which runs on the DNN platform along with an SQL server database for the website. This is so that developers can find is easier to pursue group module development in the future.

Selecting the Right DotNetNuke Version

Choosing the right version of the DNN platform is an important decision to make before you start your development. For all the modules that you plan to develop on your own, you need to evaluate the minimum version of DNN that you have in production. Check ...
... whether you are working on DNN 5.6.1, 6.2.6 or even 7.0.6. Based on this, you will be able to identify the version that will help you set up your development environment.

It is recommended that you avoid developing on a newer version of DNN than the one you have been currently running in production.

While as DotNetNuke Developers who are working on modules for future release, you may have production sites that are running on the latest and best versions of DNN. However, chances are that your customers or potential customers may not be as well equipped. While using the latest version is a great thing from a development perspective, it may not be a practical consideration from a business perspective.

Furthermore, you may also want to use only those features that are available in specific older DNN versions for versatile compatibility.

Choosing a Package

As baffling as it may sound, developers are recommended that they use the ‘INSTALL’ package of whichever version they finally choose to download. While many developers may go for the source package, the INSTALL package makes your development environment a lot cleaner. Since you are not going to be opening the DotNetNuke project when you do your module development, it is of little importance to have those files sitting around for nothing.

Installation Configuration

Now that you have passed the version selection stage, you need to venture into the installation process. Start by downloading the INSTALL package and the extract the files to a location of your choice. This location is where you will be pointing the web server (IIS) when you begin to configure the website.

Remember that you may require right clicking on the ZIP file and selecting properties for extracting. Here, make sure you click on the “UNBLOCK” option if it appears.

Setting up the IIS

The IIS is essentially your web server that comes inbuilt with all Windows PCs. Make sure you have an IIS version that is compatible with the DNN version that you intend to use. Also, it is recommended that you create a new website with IIS or add the HOST binding for DNNDEV.ME if you are using an existing website.

After this, you can move on to setting file permissions, configure your database and population of your DNN installation screen.

Author Bio:

Sanjeev Chuadhary is an expert writer who shares his knowledge about web development through their published articles and other resource. He always shares the new information about DNN Development India. His article about DotNetNuke Upgradation and Migration are highly praised by the readers.