Will

Have you tried the .\sqlexpress value for the connection string's server attribute?  That works for me with reliable site.

And please create a wiki entry detailing the proper reliablesite installation procedure so others can benefit from your troubles once you have it sorted.

Thanks,

-Paul

Is the wiki prefered to the forum? It just feels like the information here is spread out over too many places.

I did get the install to work so I will post here and at the wiki I guess.

These are for the IIS7/Server 2008 hosting at reliablesite.net hosting:

1) I coped unziped the full umbraco installation to the WWWROOT directory at the host using the FILE MANAGER from the user control panel.

2) Security nightmare maybe: But I had to set both the DOMAIN account and Network Service account to READ WRITE on the ENTIRE "wwwroot" directory and check the box to propogate to all child nodes.

3) I created a SQL2005 DB via the DB control panel and created a USER in the same section. Name the DB something like mydomain_umbraco, because there is only 1 instance of SQL server and you will want to be able to easily pick your your DB in the next steps.

4) I had to click on the "SPACE HOME" link for the hosting account and then click on the "VIEW SPACE SUMMARY" link on teh right hand side of the page. This link brings you to a document showing ALL of the hosting settings. About 2/3 of the way down the page are the database connection address. It is an IP address and port in the form 0.0.0.0,portxxx (I will not post the IP and port here for security reasons)

5) I used SQL server management studio express (free from MS) and the above address/port, database name, user name and password to login to the SQL instance at the host.  I found MY database instance in the list of databases hosted at the reliablesite (dozens of them) and expanded it in the tree. I then clicked on the "USERS" node and right clicked on the user I created above and selected PROPERTIES. I CHECKED the db_datareader, db_datawiter and db_owner checkboxes and closed the management studio.

6) I edited the connection string in web.config to reflect the db IP/PORT, database name and user credentials as created above. 

7) once all that was done I navigated to the website and the install script ran. The server/instance is the ip/port found in the SPACE SUMMARY as explained above (and used on the web.config) and the database is the database name you created above.

The install should then run as expected.  NOTE: It would not run properly until a set wwwroot and ALL subfolders to to read/write for BOTH the NETWORK SERVICE and DOMAIN accounts listed in the permissions dialog.

Hope that helps anybody attempting to setup hosting at reliablesite or a similar host.

Awesome...thanks for detailing your steps.

-Paul

Here is a copy of the post I made in the wiki. It is laid out a bit better than the rambling post above. I copied the basic structure of the document from another post in the wiki, in a feeble attempt to get some sort of cohesion among help articles.

reliablesite.net is a full trust .net hosting provider that supports umbraco.

These are the basic steps for the IIS7/Server 2008 hosting platform at reliablesite.net

1. UPLOAD UMBRACO 
   • Delete the default.aspx and web.config files in the WWWROOT folder at the host
   • Upload the umbraco ZIP file to the wwwroot folder using the reliablesite.net FILE MANAGER found in the control panel
   • Of course you can use FTP if you prefer, but the file manager has a full set of tools to make things easy without FTP
     
     
2. UNPACK UMBRACO
   • Use the FILE MANAGER in the hosting control panel to UNZIP the Umbraco archive
     
     
3. SET PERMISSIONS 
   • Using the FILE MANAGER in the hosting control panel, change the folder permissions on the WWWROOT. Check the boxes for READ and WRITE for both listed accounts. One will be NETWORK SERVICE and the other will be the DOMAIN account. YOU MUST also check the box to propagate the changes to all subfolders
   • NOTE: This is the only way I could get umbraco to work. I am sure that once umbraco is installed, there are certain folders that don't need full permissions. I hope somebody can update this guide with best practices!
     
     
4. CREATE THE DATABASE
   • Use the DB manager to create a SQL server 2005 database.
   • Name it something like mydomain_umbraco (where mydomain is something meaningful) because there is only 1 SQL server instance at the host and you will later need to be able to find your database in the list of databases presented in the Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express.
   • Use the DB control panel to create a Database user and password.
     
     
5. FIND THE DATABASE CONNECTION STRING  
   • click the "SPACE HOME" link in the control panel.
   • At the "SPACE HOME" page, you will see a link on the right hand side of the page called "VIEW SPACE SUMMARY". 
   • About 2/3 of the way down, the SPACE SUMMARY will show the database instance IP and port in the form x.x.x.x,x  Make not of this, you will need it later.
     
      
6. CONFIGURE THE DATABASE
• 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
• open the Management Studio
• use the server address that you found above along with the db name and account credentials you created (use SQL SERVER AUTHENTICATION)
• 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
    
    
7.  EDIT WEB.CONFIG
   • Use the FILE MANAGER in the hosting control panel to edit the web.config file in the WWWROOT folder.
   • modify the umbracoDbDSN entry in web.config to reflect the database server hostname, database name, login and password used above
     
     
8. FINISH THE INSTALL
   • Navigate to the website URL that your are installing to and click next
   • on the setup screen, select SQL SERVER database type from the dropdown list
   • Use the same SERVER address as used above, along with the database name and user credentials that you selected   

William Burnett
www.mbtechnology.net

Hi William,

  How has reliablesite.net hosting worked for you?  We've been using SoftSys hosting and have had a lot of problems with uptime and reliability lately and are looking for a more reliable shared hosting provider.

Thanks

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