Recently we hosted a webinar featuring 3 tools that every DNN Administrator should know about. Those tools are nvQuickSite, Prompt, & Evotiva’s DNN Backup. On the webinar we were joined by David Poindexter, Kelly Ford, and Ryan Moore who all provided great walkthroughs of each tool. In case you weren’t able to attend the webinar, I wanted to post a blog to share this information with you.
Install, Manage, Backup
The theme for our webinar was “Install, Manage, and Backup” because those are tasks that DNN administrators frequently handle. The good news is that the tools we highlighted in the webinar can make these common tasks very simple for you.
nvQuickSite
- Summary: A windows application that makes installing DNN very simple.
- More Info: http://www.nvquicksite.com
- Webinar Questions:
- Can nvQuickSite be used with Evoq?
- Yes, nvQuickSite works with DNN Platform, Evoq, and even custom distributions as long as they follow the same package model as DNN Platform
- Will nvQuickSite install SQL or IIS on your machine if you don’t have them there?
- No, installation and configuration of all prerequisites need to be performed prior to using nvQuickSite.
Prompt
- Summary: A powerful command line interface for DNN.
- More Info: Previewing Prompt in DNN 9.2
- Webinar Questions:
- Is the Prompt CLI executable available outside of the DNN platform for writing automation?
- Prompt uses WebAPI for interaction. David Poindexter is working on a mobile app leveraging Prompt and Peter Donker is working on a Powershell extension for interaction with your sites remotely.
- Does Prompt call DNN API’s behind the scenes?
- Yes, it uses the existing DNN API whenver possible. Of course, it’s integrated into the DNN Core as well
- Why do some properties in Prompt look like hyperlinks?
- Those links will generate a command for you to execute - to hlep you learn how to leverage Prompt’s commands and save typing
- Does Prompt allow for batch processing?
- Not at the moment. The goal is to introduce piping and scripting in the future. Peter Donker is working on a Powershell module that would also allow scripting.
- Any plan to provide a command line interface to the server install?
- I think it should be included at some point, though it is currently included. The beauty of Prompt is that it should be pretty easy to roll out new versions. More importantly, you can create your own commands to do whatever you need.
- I just looked in DNN 9.1.1 and don’t see Prompt, is it an extension?
- Prompt will be included in the DNN 9.2 release. You can grab nightly builds right now to start playing with it.
DNN Backup
- Summary: A paid extension by Evotiva that makes backing up your DNN instance simple
- More Info: https://www.evotiva.com/Products/DNNBackup
- Webinar Questions:
- Are there any security considerations for government agencies using this product?
- Yes, you should always protect these files as they can contain full web.config information in them. Standard security over the files is recommended. Also, you can password protect the zip files that DNN Backup creates.
- Does DNNBackup just backup the database or does it backup the entire DNN instance, including the file system?
- Evotiva’s DNN Backup is flexible. It can save the whole DNN instance (database, folders, and files) or specific parts. You can also set schedules for backing up the pieces that you like.
Watch the Replay
If you’d like to re-live the webinar to get a more in-depth walk through of these tools you can easily watch the webinar below.
Useful Tools, Webinars, OSS, & The DNN Ecosystem
I hope you find this info helpful. Our goal with the webinar, this blog, and with all things DNN is to help support the overall DNN ecosystem. We want to help increase awareness, communications, and help the community grow together. Do you have helpful tools that you use, OSS contributions that we should highlight, or information that would be beneficial to the greater DNN ecosystem? If so, then feel free to reach out to me at Clint.Patterson@DNNSoftware.com and we’ll work with you to help promote your projects.
Webinar Next Week!
Also, don’t miss the upcoming Module Development Best Practices webinar on December. You can register on the webinars page.