Lots of DotNetNuke users and marketers choose the option of having a child portal setup in their installation.  It could be a full url – eg.. an new domain name, or a true child portal – eg… domain.com/mychildportal  or a subdomain setup – eg… mychildportal.domain.com.

If you use the 'child portal' option then a folder with a default.aspx file is created which is the name of the portal, but unless you customise it, it generates another number which is incremented with each new portal created.

If you use the full domain, or the subdomain method of creating another portal, no folder is created in the root directory but but it still increments numerically under the Portals/ folder. 

Now, if you've only got one or two, it's not so bad, but if you've got quite a few, remembering who belongs to what can be somewhat frustrating and time consuming.

SubDomain or Parent Portal layout – in root directory -
but check out the portal numbers on the left  <<<<<

Too many to remember and sift through when wanting to quickly identify portals

Typical Example of Multi Child Portal folder structure

But you don't have to use this option all the time – and you can create your own folder names when creating the new portal, and here's how you do it.

Full domain or Sub Domain Default Setup

To setup the Full domain or Sub Domain setup you'll need to make sure in IIS or your DNS entry you have allowed a wildcard or pre entered the subdomain in IIS or it will come up with a 'Page cannot be displayed' in your new DotNetNuke portal. 

If this occurs, just add to IIS manually and the site will appear. If I'm in a hurry, I confess I've been known to setup the portal, letting it go to a "page cannot be displayed" error and then adding to IIS after.  I know it's a bit arse about but sometimes even I don't get it perfect first time.

Child Portal Default Setup

In this situation, you can see the URL is already created – it's using the initial parent portal, that's where you get the alias address in the address bar which I think looks simply horrible.. and if you have virtual directories in the first place, (which I really prefer NOT to use) then it's not going to be so successful to use.

Let's look at some more 'busy' folders and see how unwieldy your DotNetNuke installation can be if your memory isn't that good, your life is busy or you don't have some way of isolating your portals.  I have a structure that works for me, but for those who aren't used to hosting versions of DNN from 1 >> 4, they might find it initially overwhelming, however, for me, it's very quick to find all my sites, portals, clients, and manage them. I guess how we do things is dependent upon our existing needs.

Here are two examples of the folder structure of a typical Parent and Child portal setup and you can see how confusing it can be to identify which portal goes with what.  If you use FTP to upload files to the site, you'll appreciate how much time it takes to identify each portal.

Custom Parent Portal / Full domain/ Sub Domain setup – Click CUSTOMISE

type in the same name as you have for the subdomain or full domain (but without the .com bits on the end of course)

When the portal is created – it will be nice and easy to identify what belongs where – it's all about streamlining your DotNetNuke business and goodness me, we could all do with some extra moments in our day!

Custom Child Portal Setup – Click CUSTOMISE

So I don't get any typos – I copy the text in that box before I click customise – I then type in the same name as the child portal – so when the site is created, the child portal will automatically display Portals/childportalsample instead of the incremental numbering.

Outcome

Easy to identify folders –

But if you think it's hard to follow today, spare a thought for this DNN1 portal  – with about 70 children attached to it.

I have a more extensive video on xd.com.au if you want to learn more – you need to be registered – its a 26mb file. While it was created for an earlier version of DNN the references are the same.

video on XD.com.au

In summary

• When creating parent portals / sub domains / full domains – make sure dns is setup first
• When creating portals, remember to copy the folder details as when you click 'customise' it disappears
• For convenience and best practices, use the same name as the portal for the folder name

I hope you have learnt a little about this interesting topic.

Nina Meiers