DNN Manager

Run DNN sites on your Windows PC without the IIS and SQL Server chores.

DNN Manager is a desktop app for DNN (DotNetNuke) developers. It creates a working DNN site in one step and then manages every site in your IIS from a single window - start, stop, logs, terminal, database - in the style of Docker Desktop.

Download · User guide · Development · Architecture · Changelog

Why

A local DNN site by hand means: download a release, unzip it, create an IIS site and app pool, set folder permissions, create a database and a login, edit web.config and click through DNN's install wizard. And once it runs, IIS puts it to sleep after 20 minutes, so the next page takes half a minute again.

DNN Manager does all of that for you - and undoes it just as easily: removing a project takes its IIS site, folder and database with it.

What you get

• A new site in one click - pick a DNN version from GitHub, give it a name, Create project. The first visit shows your site, signed in as the host account you chose - no install wizard.
• Every IIS site in one table - live status, CPU, memory, DNN version and database. Changes made in IIS Manager show up by themselves, no Refresh.
• Start, stop, restart or remove one site or several at once.
• Keep warm - no more slow first page: chosen sites are kept awake with a tiny request every few minutes.
• Import, export and clone sites as .zip + .bacpac, also from Azure SQL.
• Host an existing folder - the IIS site and database for code you already have.
• A bottom panel like VS Code's - Output, live DNN / IIS / Windows logs, and terminals (PowerShell, Command Prompt, Git Bash) opened in a project's folder.
• Open with… Visual Studio, VS Code, Rider, Cursor and others, or SQL Server Management Studio signed in to the site's database.
• Your choice of database - a SQL Server container it sets up in Docker for you, your own SQL Server / SQL Server Express, or a LocalDB file.
• Help built in, in plain words - a step-by-step getting started guide on the first start, a tour of the window, F1 help for every page and tooltips that say what each button does.
• Light and dark theme, UI scaling, and an efficiency mode that keeps the app idle while you aren't looking at it.

Quick start

1. Download DnnManager_Setup-<version>-x64.exe from Releases and run it - installing needs no administrator rights.
2. Start DNN Manager and accept the UAC prompt - it manages IIS, so it runs as Administrator. The Getting started guide opens and explains the rest - Skip guide if you know your way; the ? at the top right opens it again.
3. Open Settings (the gear): IIS → Set up IIS enables the Windows features DNN needs, and Docker container → Set up docker-compose creates the SQL Server container. Using your own SQL Server instead? Pick it under Database server.
4. Click New project, enter a name, pick a DNN version and press Create project. When it's done, open http://<name>.dnndev.me - dnndev.me points to your own PC, and DNN Manager puts the name in the hosts file too, so it opens without internet (a custom domain like shop.test works the same way - see Host names and working offline).

The user guide walks through every page, menu and setting.

Requirements

• Windows 10 / 11 or Windows Server, with IIS (DNN Manager can enable it)
• An account that can run programs as Administrator
• For the default database: Docker Desktop with Linux containers - or any SQL Server, SQL Server Express or LocalDB instead

Build from source

You need the .NET 10 SDK.

git clone https://github.com/Albadit/DnnManager.NET.git
cd DnnManager.NET
dotnet run                    # builds and starts the app (asks for admin rights)
dotnet test tests/DnnManager.IntegrationTests --filter "TestCategory!=Integration"   # fast tests

Debugging, the conventions and how to extend it are in .docs/development.md; the tests in .docs/testing.md; publishing and the installer in .docs/releasing.md.

How it's built

A WPF app on .NET 10, laid out as Clean Architecture in a single project:

Layer	What it holds
DnnManager.Presentation	WPF windows, pages, themes and the app's start-up
DnnManager.Application	Use cases (new project, import, clone, remove…) and the interfaces they need
DnnManager.Infrastructure	IIS, Docker, SQL Server, GitHub releases, settings, keep warm, logs
DnnManager.Domain	Plain records, no dependencies

Domain and Application don't depend on WPF or Infrastructure (a test, LayeringTests, keeps it so); use cases reach IIS, SQL Server and the file system through interfaces. The layers, how an operation runs, how the window stays current and a map from each feature to its code are in .docs/architecture.md.

Documentation

For	Document	What's in it
Users	User guide	The window, every page and menu, automatic DNN setup, import / host / clone, keep warm, backups, limitations
	Configuration	Documents\DnnManager and its database, every settings key, environment variables
	Troubleshooting	Known problems, their causes and fixes
Developers	Development	Prerequisites, build, run, debugging, conventions, extending
	Architecture	Layers, how an operation runs, live updates, project layout, design decisions, component map
	Upgrading DNN	DNN's upgrade path, the analyser, backups, each step, the checks, rollback, the knowledge base, what was tested
	Testing	The fast and the integration tests, adding a test
	Releasing	Version, changelog, portable exe, installer, GitHub release, CI and checksums, what to do about a bad release
	Security	Administrator rights, secrets, what DNN Manager deletes, network exposure, open risks
Everyone	Changelog	What changed in each version
	Release notes	The notes of every GitHub release, one file per version

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome. Before opening a pull request, run the fast tests, add a line to CHANGELOG.md under Unreleased, and update the docs when behaviour changes. Follow the conventions in .docs/development.md.

License

MIT. The terminal icons and keep warm's flame are Codicons by Microsoft, licensed under CC BY 4.0.