Installing v4.0.0 on a Plesk shared host

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How-to
Describes the steps needed to install Umbraco 4.0.0 on a shared hosting provider using Plesk

Chapters

• Chapter 1: Installing Umbraco 4.0.0 on a shared host with Plesk

Installing Umbraco 4.0.0 on a shared host with Plesk

This guide may help you install Umbraco on a shared host running Plesk Parallels. I have successfully deployed Umbraco 4 at eHosting.co.uk and am happy to recommend them.

Requirements

• IIS (i.e. a Windows hosting package).
• This guide assumes you will be using SQL Server (2000, 2005, 2008, SQLExpress etc). You could also use MySQL or (for small sites) the built-in VistaDB.
• ASP.NET 2.0 or newer.
• ASP.NET AJAX (normally installed by your hosting provider).
• Full-Trust is recommended, High-Trust is the minimum; Medium-Trust will not work.
• You will need an FTP client to upload the files.
• You will need to use either SQL Server Management Studio (free from Microsoft) or an on-line tool provided by your hosting company to configure the database security.

Installation Steps

1. if the domain is not yet created in Plesk, add it using the Add New Domain icon. Type the domain name, choose "Create domain without template", check "Proceed to hosting setup" and click OK. In the next screen, select "Physical hosting" and click OK
2. in the Physical Hosting Setup Page for the domain, choose the following options:
   • type a login name and password for FTP/Microsoft FrontPage Login. You will need this password to upload your files
   • check ASP.NET support and select version 2.0 or newer
   • choose other options as you see fit and click OK
3. now, create the MS SQL database
   • a) from the domain control panel, click Databases
   • b) click Add New Database
   • c) take a note of the database server hostname displayed by Plesk
   • d) type a name for the database
   • e) click Add New Database User
   • f) type a name and a password for the database user and click OK (note: this is a shared server. Make sure you use strong passwords which are not related to the login name or database name)
4. configure the MS SQL database security
   • install SQL Server Management Studio Express on your local machine. This is part of MS SQL Server Express, a free download. See the this page for details.
   • start SQL Server Management Studio Express
   • type the the hostname from 3c after Server Name
   • select SQL Server Authentication
   • type the database login and password from 3f and click Connect (note: if you cannot connect, perhaps your hosting provider has disallowed direct access to the database. In that case you will need to use online tools provided by your hosting provider to configure the database security)
   • navigate to Databases->your database->Security->Users->your database user
   • right-click and select Properties
   • below "Database role membership", check the following boxes:
     • db_datareader
     • db_datawriter
     • db_owner
   • click OK
   • test the connection to your database using the database user login from 3h
     • Click File, click Disconnect Object Explorer.
     • Click File, click Connect Object Explorer.
     • Select SQL Server Authentication, enter the database login and password from 3f
     • Click Connect.
5. prepare the Umbraco 4 files
   • download and unzip the Umbraco release .zip file from here
   • open build/web.config in a text editor
   • modify the umbracoDbDSN key to reflect the database server hostname (3c), database name (3d), login and password (3f)
   • the standard Umbraco install attempts to grant permissions to the root directory, which can't be done and isn't needed on a shared host. To continue the install we'll need a slightly modified version. Replace the file install/steps/detect.ascx with this version
6. upload the Umbraco 4 files to the server
   • open your site with an FTP client
   • go to the httpdocs folder
   • copy the contents of the build folder in .zip file to the httpdocs folder of the server. I recommend using FileZilla or a similar FTP client – it is much faster than the integrated FTP client integrated into Internet Explorer. The httpdocs folder of your site should now contain the web.config file.
   • if possible, check the log file of your FTP client for possible errors
7. set up file permissions
   • return to the Plesk domain control panel and click File Manager
   • open the httpdocs folder
   • repeat the following steps for the folders: app_code, bin, config, css, data, masterpages, media, python, scripts, umbraco, usercontrols, xslt and the file web.config.
     • click the padlock icon
     • choose the Plesk IIS WP User
     • check the box next to Full Control
     • click OK
8. Using a web browser, navigate to http://yourdomain to launch the umbraco configuration tool. Perform the following steps
   • accept the license agreement, follow the on-screen instructions 
   • in step 2/5, click the Install button instead of the Confirm button
   • complete the installation wizard. At the very end an error will appear noting that access to /httpdocs is denied
9. Manually complete the installation procedure
   • return to the Plesk domain control panel and click File Manager
   • navigate to and open the web.config file
   • locate the key <add key="umbracoConfigurationStatus" value="" />
   • change it to <add key="umbracoConfigurationStatus" value="4.0.0" />
   • click Apply

Now you can access the Umbraco back-end (http://yoursite.com/umbraco) and log in as admin. Until you have built a homepage or installed a runway you will get a splash screen when you try to access the homepage of your site.

Jon Webb
www.webbsites.nl