I found to day that you can take a snapshot of your running server and then export that to an XVA file. This can then be used as a fully restorable VM back up of your server.

The process is not difficult nor is it hidden away only to be found in a script. It is part of the Snapshot tab in the XEN Center. Just right click on the completed Snapshot and choose export. Just like doing an export of a shut down VM.

I also found some info on how you can setup a scheduled scripted backup system that takes advantage of the general ability to Export a Snapshot for backup. The best script I found on this is on SysAdminNotebook.blogspot.com.

I know this is a departure from my normal DNN stuff and honestly my day job really has only small touch points with DNN so most of what I have to share these days is related to my day job, enjoy.

I recently moved into the world of virtualization in my production environments. Ya… I know this should be old hat given the time that VM tech has been around and in the main stream. In the past I was just not willing to deal with the additional new head aches that come with Production Level Virtualization.

Recently I found time to work with server Virtualization and I chose XEN Server from Cirtrix. I'm not a Linux Guru so I went with the most polished version of XEN I could find. I did not go with VMware mostly because I have had some bad experiences with an installation of ESXi installed in our development area.  I will leave it at that.

I was able to get XEN up and running very quickly on reasonable hardware. what I had on hand was all supported and things just fell into place.

The timing...

This was primarily an update to support DNN installs that do not use the fck Editor Provider. Making it 100% compatible with DNN4,5,6. DNN6 does not use fck by default and this would cause the module to show error messages when saving or trying to manage the templates.

Install this version if you have a new install that does not have the Fck editor or you do not want to be tied to the Fck editor template integration.

We have complted the process of releasing the code to the public. It is a C# project and can be found on CodePlex.com. The Project URL is http://htrm.codeplex.com.

It will take a little while to get all the docs written and other things setup in Codeplex but it will get done. If there are questions, I am hoping that the Quick start Video will help in the short term.

 

Today I posted a new video. It is a quick start for using the HTML Template Repeater. You can find it here.

Well today I released the Private Assembly version of the HTML Template Repeater module. It is my first offering from Software's Edge. The plan is to release one fully cooked module every other month. Ideas for modules are easy it is the time to build them that I think may be a future issue. My day job is hectic and sometimes I don't even have enough time to even make a blog post so having a goal of 1 every 2 months should help push me to get things done.

Anyway let's talk about the HTML Template Repeater. The module is similar to the Core HTML module in that is allows you to add html to a page in the exact same way as the text/html module. That is where the similarities end. The words Template and Repeater are in the name of the module to highlight the other main features of the module. It is all about the template and it is all about repeating the same template for each data item in your data set.

The template feature is 2 fold. First it allows you to edit the FCK Editor templates and add your own through its editor interface. Second it improves on the tag replacement feature built into the text/html module. The standard tag replace replacement feature is maintained as in the core module. But you can also add your own tags in addition to the ones that are available now. The tags are custom to that module template. The repeater feature lets you create as many unique instances of the template one for each virtual data row you add to the module....

18 things you should do after you install DotNetNuke (DNN).

As a proud owner of your very own web site, there are a few things you should do to insure you get the most out of your DNN site. The typical DotNetNuke installs with very good defaults but there are something’s that need to be changed right away in order to make the site work a bit more like one would hope and expect. This is my rundown of those things. I hope it is helpful.