In an earlier post, I mentioned that I have created a staging area where I can build DNN websites, let the client view them and, when they are happy, I need to move the entire site to its own domain. This follows the pattern: www.staging.com/client1, www.staging.com/client2 etc.
I followed Lee's tutorial on creating a Portal image and using the site wizard. The first attempt was off because I had to upload the extra modules to the new location before I could run the Wizard. After doing this the second attempt was closer but I still had to upload all the images for the Project (Premium) module.
Firstly, does anyone have a straightforward routine which will take a complete DNN portal and move it to another location? (I'm happy to purchase a solution as I'll be using it often).
Secondly, can anyone tell me a way to protect my staging area by adding a login (or something) before anyone gets through to any of the sub-portals? That is: if someone types in www.staging.com/client4 they are presented with a login requirement before getting any further and, once logged in, cannot see any of the other portals.

I assume that you want to move a single portal from a development area to a site that has multiple portals. Is that right.

As for the other question, set up the portals so that only registered users can see them. You can also make the sites private (no registration, etc.). Then, give your client the username and password that they will need to see the site.

Logging into one sub-portal won't give them access to other sub-portals if you've set up the privileges correctly.

Hi, thanks for that, so far. 

I'll be moving a single portal from the multiple portal staging (development) area (www.staging.com/client4) to a hosted domain (www.client4.com) which will hold a single portal - everything under that domain name will belong to a single client. Thanks.

I think that, in this case, it might be easiest to get a fresh copy of DNN running at the www.client4.com site, export a site template from the staging site, and then importing it into the new site. I'm assuming that you won't have lots of user data in the new site.

You might want to be aware that there might be a bug in the export/import depending on which version(s) of DotNetNuke you are using. Check the snapsis.com site for a a discussion of that issue. I think that it's in the Tips & Tricks are.

Thanks Joe, the site which I will be moving will be a total site, ready to go. What you have described is pretty much what I have done. Yes, there is a bug but I posted in this forum and had it fixed in no time.
I had the hosting comany load up a fresh version of DNN for me, exported a site template and created the new site at the new location using the wizard. The first effort revealed that none of the additional module or skins which I had loaded were available at the new location, so I had to manually load all those and then create the site again.
I thought I had lost some content but it turned out that some of the settings in the modules had changed and I had to track those down and fix them. None of the images had come over so I had to upload all of those too.
It is certailnly doable using the export template but it's a bit clunky - I was hoping for a backup from one location restore to another solution but I suppose all referencing will be wrong.
I could create the website from scratch at the new location but, where I am revamping an existing site, I need to make an entry in the hosts file on my local PC so that I don't go to the existing hosting server. That works fine for me but it means playing around on the clent's site when I need to show them something (not a good image).
That's the reason I created the staging area - it's a tidy solution and, once I get it secure, will work well. I'm then left with moving the whole, completed site (modules, skins, settings, content, images) to it's final destination.
I guess I'll have to develop a routine for all the steps necessary to export and use the portal template.
Thanks again for your help.   Steve

All of my "good" suggestions sort of fly out the window when you mention that the staging site has multiple portals.

You might want to consider copying both the database AND the web directory locally, and then delete all of the portals except for the one that you want to move. The problem there is that both the database and the web directory may contain remnants of the other portals.

Maybe you should create a clean install locally, export the portal and then import it into the clean local install. At least that way you could clean it all up locally, installing modules, files, etc. and then move the directory and clean database to the client site.

And, if you're going to do this often, keep backup copies of the clean install and clean database (install all of the modules you are likely to use first!). Then it'll be fairly easy to use those backups to create a clean site for the import!

Another suggestion: I would set it up this way. - Get a reseller hosting account for your staging area so it is cheap to set up.

Rather than create multiple child portals create separate DNN installations using separate SQL databases, but give them a subdomain of your current staging area url, so this makes the site appear to the client as a personal staging area and it allows you to easily import and export content for the entire installation.

You will then not have the problems of the template method ie. some module settings not transferring etc. and you will also have the advantage that you can copy the site to a localhost installation to work on without affecting any other clients portals.

Thanks,

Hi,for moving web site use this http://www.tucktail.com/ site's transferring option , I used this one for my website move.