Traditionally, the DNN Core has only suggested upgrading from version to version, without skipping any versions. This is because, in the past, this was the only use case that was effectively tested prior to subsequent releases was upgrades from the version immediately prior. This has changed recently, as you will see in the table below.
This listing is subject to change. All installation and upgrade files can be downloaded from
CodePlex. If your current version falls between any of the versions listed below, first upgrade to the version closest to yours.
IMPORTANT NOTE!
This upgrade path has been tested and successfully used by numerous people and sites. However, that does not guarantee that your websites will upgrade error-free. You should always use best practices. Back-up your websites and databases the best that you can, and backup and test your websites on a test or staging instance.
Credit
This article was originally reprinted from
The Mighty Blog, with permission.
Our thanks go to Will Strohl.
Upgrade Notes
DotNetNuke has been around since 2002, and in that time has had a number of changes which can complicate matters. These include:
Changing pre-requisities
- the changeover from DNN 3.x to DNN 4.x - DNN 3.x used asp.net 1.1, whereas DNN 4.x and above require asp.net 2.0
- editions prior to 4.6.2 - Prior to 4.6.2 site admins had to manually merge a number of key fields in web.config such as the machinekey and both connection strings. With 4.6.2 DotNetNuke introduced functionality known as xmlmerge which automatically does the web.config merging on your behalf.
- DotNetNuke 5.2 - this version introduced the requirement for SQL 2005 and .net 3.5 SP1
Additional notes
- All versions prior to 4.6.2 require manual merge of the web.config. From 4.6.2 on when an upgrade package is overlaid over an existing instance, DotNetNuke will automatically merge the necessary web.config changes. To run a manual merge of your web.config you need to use a comparison tool. Winmerge is a good free opensource tool for this. A well regarded commerical tool is Beyond compare
- 3.02.02 - 4.03.07 - please refer to the Detailed installation guide "Upgrade to DotNetNuke 4.x chapter". This blog post also contains information about upgrading from 3.2.2. to 4.x: Preparing for an upgrade
- When upgrading from a version before 5.3.0 to after 5.3.0, you may encounter this error during the upgrade: “Type 'Web.HttpResponse' is not defined.” This error primarily occurs if an the XML module is already installed. To prevent this, please check PRIOR to upgrading if the XML module is installed in your DotNetNuke version. If it is installed, please upgrade it PRIOR to upgrading DotNetNuke to version 4.3.5, available from CodePlex