The most important thing before upgrading is to back up your current DotNetNuke site. Also, if you are using any third-party themes or modules, please contact the author(s) before upgrading to make sure they are still supported in the latest version of DNN.
Backing up the MS SQL database
- Log in to Control Panel
- Click the Sites tab
- Click your site account
- Click MS SQL Manager
- Click Manage next to the MS SQL database your DNN site is using.
- Next to Tools, click Backup
- Click Create Backup
This will place the backup of your MS SQL database within the App_Data directory with the file extension “.bak.”
Backing up your web site files via FTP
- If you don’t already have an FTP client installed, we recommend the FileZilla FTP client.
- Read our Knowledge Base article on how to connect to your site via FTP.
- Once connected, download your entire file structure to your local computer.
- Remember the backup of your MS SQL database will be located within the App_Data folder. So you’re backing up your database onto your local computer too.
Downloading the upgrade files and Extracting
Important: you must know your SuperUser account login in order to upgrade.
You can download the Upgrade files through DNN’s download page.
- Download the UPGRADE PACKAGE Files needed for upgrading an existing installation of DNN Platform.
- Once downloaded, unzip the files on to your computer, keeping the directory structure intact.
Uploading the updated files
- Connect to your site via FTP and navigate to the directory where you have DNN installed.
- Upload the UPGRADE PACKAGE files you just downloaded into the directory. If your FTP client asks you to overwrite the files go ahead and overwrite them.
- Once the upload is complete, go to the next step.
Upgrading
- Visit your site where you have DNN installed.
- DNN will ask you to login as the SuperUser account. Then click on the Upgrade button.
- DNN will be upgraded to the latest DNN installation.