Question

I’m setting up a DotNetNuke application on a shared hosting environment and I’m really new to the ASP.Net world. In a shared environment, do I have a web.config file? or does my host have to set up my connection string for me?

I have access to the IIS through my host’s control panel.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

I’ve visited the DotNetNuke Wiki and it’s given me guidance on the connection string itself, but I can’t seem to locate the web.config file.

Answer 1

DotNetNuke will setup the connection string for you during the install process.

When you select “SQL Server Database”, it will ask you for:

1. authentication method (Windows Auth, SQL Authentication),
2. location of the server (Example: IP Address)
3. Database Name (Empty Database needs to be pre-created)
4. Username and Password (if you selected SQL Authentication)

Before proceeding to the next step, the installer will make sure it can access the database given the information that you provided.

If it succeeds, and the next step proceeds, that means the connection string was already setup for you.

So where do you get your information for steps 1 – 4?

1. Basically, your hosting provider should have this information for you. There will be a preferred authentication method for step 1 above. It is probably SQL Authentication.
2. Your host should tell you where your SQL Server is located — they should give you a hostname or IP Address for the SQL Server.
3. For step 3, There should be some method for you to create databases — probably using a web interface or, if you’re lucky, SSMS.
4. Finally, they should have provided you sa login credentials for Step 4 — but it’s best if you can create your own credentials and provide them access to only your DNN database for this step.