With the advancing technology and more and more developers switching to ASP.NET 2.0, the technology using ASP.NET 1.0 with DotNetNuke 3.1 is rapidly getting old. So upgrading is the right decision for today.

Moreover a lot of functionality is added to DotNetNuke 4 version. To take advantage of these features one must upgrade to 4x version.

The latest version 4 of DotNetNuke comes with the following functionality:

• Provider Abstraction - create our own provider to abstract ourselves from the Microsoft provider
• HttpContext - eliminate dependence on HttpContext
• ApplicationName - manage our multi-portal capabilities within DNN rather than trying to hack the Microsoft provider
• Question and Answer - the ability for a user to enter and store a private question and answer, which can be used for a password reminder.
• Hashed Passwords - hashed passwords are supported through the Microsoft Membership Provider. We should provide a mechanism to support hashed password in DNN as they are much more secure then encrypted passwords and do not rely on Machine Keys. (It would be advantageous to make this the default but the side effect would be that we would no longer have a password retrieval mechanism)
• CAPTCHA - add the ability to display a small image with embedded text, which bots cannot read. Prevents brute force dictionary login attacks.
• Public Registration - the system should send an email to the user on public registration (to prevent cases where another user registers with their email address).
• Profile Change Notification - when any profile attribute is changed, the owner of the account should be notified (using the original email address). This is to alert people in the event that an unauthorized user has gained access to their account and made changes to their profile (password, email).
• Login Redirect - after login there should b a way to send a user to a specific page. This could be implemented at the portal or user level.
• Password Generation - the ability for an admin to automatically generate a secure password for a user on account creation
• User Account Creation Notification - when an admin creates a user account they should have an option to send the account details to the user
• Force Profile Update - ability to force a user to update their user profile (implemented at a granular level based on required Profile fields)
• Force Password Change - ability to force a user to change their password
• Password Complexity - add the ability to define some password complexity requirements (i.e. mixed upper/lower case, numeric and alpha-numeric, etc.. )
• Password Length - increase the default minimum password length from 4 characters (will require a more secure host password on initial install)
• Password Expiry - a mechanism for expiring a password, which would force a user to enter a new password. This could be done through password aging parameters defined at the portal level (i.e. every 2 months).
• Display Name Field - the membership schema should store the DisplayName of the user for demographic purposes - this item is critical for international users where their name is not represented as "FirstName LastName". Modules should link to the DisplayName for audit purposes rather than using FirstName and LastName.
• Preserve Login Parameters - when a user is directed to the login screen, the system needs to retain the original url (with parameters) so that it can redirect back after successful login (especially useful in nested module UIs like Forum)
• Logout Behavior - after logging out, the user should be able to remain on the same page rather than being redirected to the home page
• Login Redirect - after login there should b a way to send a user to a specific page. This could be implemented at the portal or user level.
• Password Generation - the ability for an admin to automatically generate a secure password for a user on account creation
• User Account Creation Notification - when an admin creates a user account they should have an option to send the account details to the user
• Force Profile Update - ability to force a user to update their user profile (implemented at a (the only reason they are being redirected now is because they may no longer have access to the page because of roles - but this is largely unnecessary and can be handled other ways).
• Automated Verified Registration URL - the email sent to user when using he Verified Registration process now contain a URL which a user can click to very quickly validate their account
   

There are various ways to move from 3x to 4x depending upon your database, site requirements etc. For example:

Suppose you have to transfer sites from one hosting provider to another and upgrading at the same time to DNN4 from DNN3.
All you have to do is:

• Back up your database and content
• Set your site to run under ASP.NET 2.0
• Unzip DNN4 on top of your current site

Suppose you have a large DNN installation and you are moving everything from DNN 3x to 4x. First of all you need to get DNN database from the local SQL Server 2000 to remote SQL Server 2005 then...

1. Go to DNS and create a new sub domain called dev.somedomainname.com and pointed it to the development server IP address.
2. Copy the entire DNN directory on the production server to the development server.
3. Reset permissions on the dev server for the DNN folder. You can copy from production to allow Network Service full permission
4. Create a new website on Dev in IIS and setup a host header for the new sub domain and for localhost, pointing it to the DNN folder copied from Production.
5. Detach the production DNN database form the SQL Server 2000 instance.
6.  Copy the MDF and LDF files for the DNN database from \mssql\MSSQL\Data on Prod and moved them to \Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data on Dev.
7. Attach the database copied from Production using SQL Server Management Studio. Part of this process automatically upgrades database to from 2000 to 2005.
8. Open web.config and changed the server name, username, and password for the remote SQL Server
9. Open up a browser on the Dev server and went to http://dev.somedomainname.com and confirmed site was assessable.

A foolproof and efficient way to migrate from DotNetNuke version 3 to DotNetNuke version 4 has following steps:

1. Create a new application pool and call it DNN4.
2. Create a new site in IIS and call it DNN4. Set the site to use ASP.Net 2.0 and make sure it runs the application pool you just created. This is very important because you cannot run .Net 1.1 and .Net 2.0 in the same application pool.
3. Download the install package for DNN 4.0
4. Unzip the package into the folder where you want your site should be (same folder as you set in IIS when you created the DDN4 site)
5. Create a new database and call it DNN4.
6. Assign the same admin as database owner as you use in the production site.
7. Rename the release.config to web.config and edit the connection strings so that they point to your SQL server and database. Do not point the connection strings to your production database.
8. If you have done this locally browse to your site at http://localhost/.
9. If everything is OK the install routine will start and a blank new DNN 4.0 site is created.
10. Install all modules you use on your production site and be sure to check the version. Also check if the module is made to run for DNN 4.0. In the case of Active Forums you need to install the DNN 4.0 version. You can create a little Excel sheet with all the modules on the production site and check all versions.
11. Now we have a blank DNN 4.0 site that should run without any errors.

The next steps are for copying data from your production database to another new database in SQL. Here we go:

1. In SQL create a database with the name DNN4Beta.
2. Assign the same admin as db owner as you use in the production site.
3. And now something VERY important comes. You must match the machineKey validationKey and the decryptionKey to the values from the production site web.config. If you fail to do this you will not be able to logon to your site anymore. If you make this mistake on your production site you will need to restore your database.
4.  Change the connection strings so that they point to your SQL server and database. In this case the database name will be DDN4Beta.
5. Now we need to import data from the production database into DDN4Beta. Use SQL Server Manager for this.
6. Copy all data from the production Portals folder to the DNN4 Portals folder.
7. Browse to http://localhost/ . You will see that DNN will upgrade your database to version 4.x

If these steps are followed properly upgrading from 3x to 4x is quite simple.

Data Springs Collection 6.0

An entire tool chest to quickly build websites and construct complex, powerful, and relevant workflow. Elevate your design with custom registration, forms, displays, reports, user management, payments, Google maps,, SQL updates, and so much more!

Best Value!  Includes all DotNetNuke modules by Data Springs.

$ 495.00

Data Springs User Management Suite 3.0

 $ 369.00

Dynamic Registration 5.0 (new release on 6/12/2013)

Need custom fields and workflow for your registration? Get all the power and ease of use to create the registration and profile management just the way you want it... more

$ 199.00

Dynamic Forms 4.1 (released 5/16/2012)

Whether it's for marketing, sales, contact forms, scheduling, information requests, surveys, or to simply better understand your customer needs, the possibilities for creating powerfully effective forms are now easy and endless! ... more

$ 195.00

Dynamic Views 3.1 (new on 2/7/2013)

Now have an easy yet feature-rich reporting module with custom defined display templates and unlimited search options from  Dynamic Forms or any data source like a table, view or custom query!  ... more

$ 169.00

Dynamic Login 4.1 (released 10/19/2011)

Add pizazz and functionality to your site login! Dynamic Login gives you custom templates, localization, redirection rules, SQL Validation, and Single SignOn. Want more? How about Facebook Connect, LinkedIN, and Twitter, too? Your login has never been so exciting!.   ... more

$ 149.00

Interactive User Import 3.0 (released 8/17/2011)

Interactive User Import provides you with the functionality to easily and quickly import users into DotNetNuke and Dynamic Registration, through a streamlined and well-documented wizard that includes many advanced features... more

$ 149.00

Dynamic User Directory 4.1 (released 4/26/2012)

The perfect compliment for extending your portals users and community! An essential ingredient for managing dynamic user information, is being able to sort key fields and create useful user directories and custom report information... more

$ 179.00

Renewal Reminder 1.3

Renewal Reminder provides you with the functionality to setup email notifications for users that their security role will soon expire. After installing your renewal / security role reminder module you can now setup scheduled notifications to be distributed to your users... more

Opt In Email 5.0 (new on 4/17/2013)

'Relationship Building' and 'Communication' are two essential nuts and bolts for a business to prosper. This module allows you to bridge both of these and easily generate continuous awareness of your web site, products and services. Your prospects and customers will greatly appreciate this feature... more

$ 179.00

Tailored Text 3.0

Personalization allows you to go the extra mile in communicating or connecting one to one with your clients. Leverage the power personalized content on your DotNetNuke site... more

Stock Quote 1.2

Giving your site visitors relevant information is critical. With the Data Springs Stock Module you can provide your users with up to date financial information... more

Presentation Archive 2.0

With so much content on your web site, its important to give users an easy method for finding and retrieving content. Presentation Archive allows you to categorize, organize and present content within your DotNetNuke site for presentations, educational material, videos, and almost any document... more

Real Estate 2.3

Real Estate 2.3 is a feature rich and user-friendly module that allows your portal users the ability to create real estate listings on your site... more

Dynamic Image Rotator 3.3

Dynamic Image Rotator displays selected images and then rotates between the images using the Adobe® Flash® platform.  Several extended and optional features allow you to select the time to rotate each image, fade between images, and also display the images in either sequental or random order... more

Info Pics Gallery

The Info Pics Gallery Module allows you to display thumbnail pictures with information to the user about each picture, along with a detailed description regarding the set of pictures and several other optional links... more

Testimonials

The Testimonials Module allows you to display customer testimonials on your site, as well as an easy method for users to submit testimonials about your web site, services, or products... more

Dynamic Info Cube

Take your web site out of the box! Looking for a creative and interesting way to showcase information and content on your site? With millions of web sites offering information you need a fun way to display information and the solution is Dynamic Info Cube... more

Dynamic Tags

Nearly every web site developer would agree that search engine optimization is one of key aspects to a successful web site. Part of search engine optimization requires providing search engines that crawl your web site with appropriate and meaningful content... more

Page Tags

'Page Tags' pulls in search terms that users searched to find the current page. There are many benefits to displaying these search words that delivered the user to the site, find our more details ... more

Random Rounded Images

Random Rounded Images is an easy to use upgraded version of the images module included with DNN. With RRI, you can select multiple images to display randomly when the module loads. For example, you can add 10 images to the module, and each time you refresh or load the page one of those images will... more

Back on Track

Giving your site visitors fast access to areas of interest is vital to your web site's ease of use and ultimately - sales potential... more

Dynamic News Ticker 2.0

Dynamic News Ticker allows you to scroll through news items in a horizontal or veritical direction with administrative features that allow you to easily customize the look of your news ticker. Each instance of Dynamic News Ticker can be set up to have different sizes, scroll directions, scroll speed... more

Quick Poll

Give your users a voice, while also providing an important way for you to gather opinions from your users and measure visitors' responses to questions on your site! Polls are significant because they can provide a way for your web site visitors to share ideas and vote on topics of your choosing... more

Dynamic Contacts 2.0

Dynamic Contacts is the fastest and easiest way you can help visitors of your website connect with your key personnel... more