How to Send DNN Installation Details for Support

Overview

In cases where our support team requires a large number of technical details, it's often much easier for everyone involved to get the information all at once so that we can review the details all at once and prevent a prolonged back-and-forth dialogue.  This article walks you through how to get all of these details at once.

Requirements

The following pre-requisites will be necessary to accomplish the goals of this article:

• Host/superuser-level access to your Hotcakes store administration
• Direct access to the website file system (FTP and Host > File System is okay)

Getting Started

There really isn't much required for you to get started. Just make sure you have the requirements ready.

DO NOT perform these steps unless you are trying to get support from us for an issue on your site or for an estimate from our team for a project.

Following these steps will create a copy of some critical details about your website instance that could be useful for a person who wishes to compromise your website.  These details include the versions of your database, web server, and more.  It does not include authentication details or other similar details that can allow immediate access to your system.

The result of these steps will ensure that you can get the best support possible, be it from the community or our support staff.

How to Send DNN Installation Details for Support

The instructions below refer to DNN versions 8.xx and earlier.  If you're on version 9 or newer of DNN, please contact our support team.

First, make sure you're logged in on the website as a superuser.  You'll know if you are because you'll see the Host menu, shown below.  Once you are, hover over the Host menu and choose the Dashboard feature.

You should now see the Dashboard feature, as seen in the image below.  It may look slightly different on your website, depending on the theme you have installed and in use.  That's okay. 

Simply scroll to the bottom and then click the Export as XML button.

A pop-up window should appear or the page will reload, depending on how your website is configured.  Regardless, you'll now be able to name the export file.  Give it any name that you wish.  In the image below, you'll see that we named it with the company and website name, along with a timestamp.  You can literally name it anything you wish though. 

Name the file and click the Create XML File button to save the file.

The XML file will be saved for you and a message similar to the example below will be displayed.

The next step is to send the file to our support team.  This can be done any number of ways.  If you have direct access to the file system or FTP access, you can certainly use those now.  You'll find the file in the following path of your website file system.

[WEBSITE-ROOT]\Portals\_default\Your-File-Name.xml

If you don't have those direct access methods, you can use the built-in File Manager.  Choose it as shown below. 

Important Note:  Be sure to choose the one in the Host menu and not in the Content/Admin menu.

The root folder should be shown as a default.  If it's not, select the root folder.  You'll find the XML file listed there.  You may need to use the paging feature or show a larger number of files to see it.

If you click on the file, it will open in a new window or tab in your web browser.  Once it opens, right-click on the page and select the option to save the file.

Now that you've saved the file, you can send the file to our support team.  We'd suggest using a secure method of sending the file if you can, and it's also a good idea to first put it into a password-protected archive.

Once you send us the file, we highly suggest permanently deleting the file to prevent its details from being saved/seen in any way by unauthorized personnel.