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dotnetnuke

What's the best development to production workflow for DNN websites?

I am getting ready to deploy a DNN website to production am trying to get my head around managing the site from then on. Here's what I have:

  • A local version of the website for developing skins, containers, content modules, etc.
  • An intranet version that I clone (I use Evotiva DNNBackup) from my local version so that our content team can work on creating content.
  • I also have a separate DNN install that I only use for custom module development (only 1 module at the moment).

My plan is to deploy a clone of the intranet version to the public server. But where I'm hung up is how to handle everything after the move to production.

Since DNN has so much of the website in the database, and the production site will be changed by content creators/editors, I'm a bit confused on how to work backwards, so to say, after the site is published. In particular, how to handle:

1.) DNN & extension upgrades 2.) Changes to skins, containers, content modules, etc.

Also, do I need to have all of these different versions? Could I just have one local site for testing/module development, and then the production version for all the new development/content creation?

Sorry if this seems really basic, but I'm just trying to get the hang of how things are best done with DNN.

Thanks in advance!

Solution

  • Typically I would recommend that you have one Production site for content creation/management (it is a CMS afterall) and a local development site for developing any custom modules/skins.

    You might also have a test environment that you test out the modules/skins, before installing them in production, but not necessary for most website.