iFinity Url Master Frequently Asked Questions [FAQ]

Licensing Questions

Q: Why do I have this yellow message at the top of my page, telling me I have an unlicenced copy/invalid licence/trial licence?

A: The Url Master is a premium module and you have to purchase a licence for it to remove this message.  If you have purchased a licence and you are still getting the message, you might have a problem with your permissions.  The asp.net worker process needs to have read permission on the licence subdirectory, and all files in that subdirectory.  On some DNN installations, when you FTP the file up, it isn't given the correct read permissions automatically.

Q: I only want to use the Url Master module on one of my portals.  How can I do this?

A: Because DotNetNuke is a multi-portal system, it's actually the Url Rewriter that decides which request is for which portal.  It's the job of the installed Url Rewriter to decide between domaina.com and domainb.com and match that up to a valid portal.  When you install the Url Master module, it takes over this job, which is how it can redirect based on the requested domain name.  Because you can only install one Url Rewriter into a single DotNetNuke installation, all portals in that installation use the Url Master module.   You can't just apply the module to a single portal within an installation.

You can, however, apply different settings to different portals, but all portals within the DotNetNuke installation will need to be included in the licence keyfile.

Q: How does the licensing system work?

A: The iFinity licence system works like this for all types of licence - except for a 'Host' Licence, which is explained in the next FAQ.

When you purchase a 1 or 5 domain license, you are licensing the module for 1 to 5 named, top-level domains. Sub-domains and child portals are all treated as a member of the top-level domain and do not require an additional license.

You may distribute the license across any combination of unique DNN installs and domain names as long as the total number of top-level domains is less than or equal to the number of domains licensed from iFinity.

You tell iFinity the number of DNN installs in which you will install the module and the unique top-level domain names within each DNN install.  This is done through the http://www.ifinity.com.au/Licensing page.

We generate the necessary license keyfile(s) and send them to you, and you load them up into the module via the 'Upload Licence File' link.

If you have more domains than licenses in a DNN install, all non-licensed domains display a message that says “unlicensed software is used on this site”.

If you need 3 domains today but know that you will want a 5-domain name license in the future, purchase the 5-domain today. iFinity will generate the license files for the 2 additional names when you request them in the future.

Example 1 : 5 Domain Licence, issued for:

1. domain1.com
2. domain2.com
3. domain3.com
4. domain4.com
5. domain5.com

 

Example 2 : 1 Domain licence, issued for 'domain1.com', installed on two servers making up a webfarm for domain1.com

DNN Install 1 Server 1 (webfarm)	DNN Install 1 Server 2 (webfarm)
www.domain1.com -Licensed	www.domain1.com - Licensed
www.domain1.org - Unlicensed (wrong top level domain)	www.domain2.com - Unlicensed (domain not in licence file)

Q: What does a 'Host' licence give me?

A: A 'Host' licence is a special type of licence unique to the Url Master software.  This is because the Url Master works across all domains in a DNN install - so all domains needs to be licensed.  A Host licence gives you unlimited domain names in a single DNN install.     A Host licence does NOT give you unlimited domains for any DNN install - all of the domains must be associated with portals in a single DNN installation.

All we need for a host licence is the 'host' portal domain, and the Host guid.  To order a host licence, use the link shown in the first secton of the 'Friendly Url Settings' page.  This will link to the iFinity Licensing page, and will pre-fill out the required details for you.

Q: Can I get a licence for my development/staging/test server?

A: If you've got a test domain, just request it with your licence.  There is no charge for test domains, as long as they're obviously a test/staging/development site.  You can request 'localhost' or 'devmachine' - whatever domain your testing site runs on.

Q: I've got 2 domains that I'd like to use the product on, and I'm going to have another 2 in a couple of months.  Can I purchase a 5 domain licence even though I don't have all 5 domains right now?

A: Yes you can purchase a 5 domain licence, and then 'use up' the domains over time.  Just submit a licence request for each additional domain name as you need.  Once you've used up the 5 domains, you can also upgrade to a host licence, if all the domains are on the one DNN install.   Otherwise, just purchase another 5 domain licence.

Q: I asked for a licence for a particular domain, now I've decided not to use that domain.  Can I substitute another domain instead?

A: No.  Once a domain licence has been issued, it can't be exchanged for another.  Please take the time to choose your licensed domain names carefully as substitutions will not be made.

Q: What does a licence file look like?

A: A licence file is an Xml file containing all the details about the domains you have licensed.  It will be sent to you, and when saved in the specified location, will remove the licensing messages from the software.  You can't modify the licence files yourself as they are signed with an encrypted key - if you modify the licence file it will become invalid, and you'll need to request a new one to fix it.

Q: I have three domains : mydomain.com, mydomain.co.uk and mydomain.com.au - do I need a single domain licence or a 5 domain licence?

A: You need a 5 domain licence, as the separation of domains occurs at the top-level domain.  You can use as many subdomains as you like.

Q: What Support do I get with my licence?

A: In general, you'll get all the support you need to get the software running as advertised when you first install the product.   Our lawyers make us put a sunset clause on the support clause in the End User Licence Agreement, so there is an 'official end' to the support you'll get.     Support is given via the support forum, and in some cases through instant messaging, email and other arrangements.  It may be necessary for you to grant host access to your portal, and possibly FTP access.  As of yet, there hasn't been a single install where the software couldn't be configured to work, as long as it's got the right DNN version (4.6 onwards).

Sales Questions - or 'Can it do....'?

Q: What's the difference between the standard DotNetNuke Friendly Url Provider, the free iFinity Friendly Url Provider and the Url Master module.

A: The answer to that question is long and complicated - the top three differences are:

1) The Url Master installs using the DotNetNuke installer, the Friendly Url Provider requires manual installation and configuration into your site

2) The Url Master module allows you to specify your own Urls and custom redirects for pages

3) The Url Master module contains extensive multi-language handling capabilities

Of course, there are many more differences.  Please see the blog post - What's the difference between the Friendly Url Provider and the Url Master software?

Q: Can't I just use a generic Url Rewriting solution for ASP.NET, or an ISAPI rewriter?

A: No, you can't.  For DotNetNuke, you need a module that :

1) Rewrites the incoming urls according to the details stored in the DNN database

2) Generates Friendly Urls for each page in the site

3) Decides which request is for which portal in the installation, and instances and caches important portal-specific information for the request. 

All of these require a dedicated DNN Friendly Url Provider / Url Rewriter, which the Url Master is.   It doesn't sit on top of the DNN application as an extra layer, it directly integrates into the DNN Core (while not modifying the core code, allowing you to upgrade).  None of this is possible with an off-the-shelf, generic ASP.NET rewriter or IIS ISAPI filter.

Q: How does the 'Vanity' Username Urls work?  Surely it can't interface with any third party module?

A:  The Url Master module can generate short and simple urls based on either the username or Display Name of a user.  Through configuration in the Page Urls screen, the module can specially rewrite the short simple /display-name value to the rewritten url the third party module expects.  This works only if the third party module expects to see the userId in the Url.  If this is the case, then the feature will work.  It works for popular software such as the DNN Forums, the Smart-Thinker social networking modules, Active Social and more.  You can only specify a single page (obviously) on the site that the rewrite works with, and any username can't clash with one of your page names.

Q: Can the Url Master module redirect from the 'www' version of my domain name to the base domain name (ie www.domain.com to domain.com, or domain.com to www.domain.com?)

A: Yes, the Url Master can do this.  You first need to add both versions of the domain as portal aliases to your site, then you need to go into the Portal Settings section of the 'Portal Urls' page, find the 'Portal Alias' (domain name) section type options, and choose 'The selected portal alias value will always be used.'.  Then just choose the portal alias you wish to always use from the list and select the 'Chosen Portal Alias' option.

Q: Can the Url Master module redirect from www.mydomain.com/default.aspx to www.mydomain.com?

A: You can redirect the /default.aspx path to the site root, but only if you are running your DNN installation on an IIS website with 'wildcard' extensions enabled.  See the section in Installation Instructions on how to configure wildcard extension mapping for IIS. If you're not running a wildcard extension, you're stuck, because IIS will always append the 'default' document, as specified in your IIS configuration for your website. Thus, it is impossible to redirect away from this as IIS will keep appending it back on. See the blog post on redirecting /default.aspx for more details To enable the /default.aspx redirect (if you are using wildcard extensions) then tick the option called 'Do 301 redirect for /default.aspx requests to the site root?'. This is found in the 'Friendly Url Settings' page.

Also, consider using a Canonical Link on the home page to specify that the Home page Url should not include /default.aspx.

Q: Can I redirect from an old url that wasn't a .aspx extension to a new DNN page?  I'd like to redirect the old website /products.htm to the new page products.aspx?

A: Yes you can.  See Redirecting .html websites to DotNetNuke pages for more details.

 Q:  I use the Ventrian News Articles module, and I'd like my articles to be referenced without the 'articleType/articleView/articleId/103/' in the query string.  Can the Url Master module do that?

A: No, in it's current release, it can't do this type of rewriting.   The structure and format of the Url in third-party modules like the Ventrian News Articles and Ventrian Property Agent module are controlled by the module itself, not by the Friendly Url Provider.   You will be able to make the Url more friendly, but you won't be able to totally remove the information from the Url.

Q: I use Snapsis PageBlaster on my website.  Is the Url Master module compatible with it?

A: In general, yes, though it is possible to change settings on either the PageBlaster module or the Url Master module to cause the two to stop working together.  It's recommended to determine the optimal setting for your site on a test site before making the changes to your production site.  See also the Url Master / Page Blaster Knowledge Base topic.

Q: I use the Catalook Store on my website.  Is the Url Master module compatible with it?

A: Yes, you can use the Url Master with Catalook without any problems.  Individual sites may need tweaking and tuning through the configuration settings, but in general it will work 'out of the box'.

Q: I use 'module-x ' on my website.  Is the Url Master compatible with it?

A: In general, any module that uses the DNN core framework API's to generate and rewrite Urls without any proprietary code will work successfully with the Url Master module.  The Url Master module is a bolt-in replacement for the standard DNN Friendly Url Provider, and replicates almost all of it's functionality, as well as all the extra functionality.   The best way to find out, though, is to download and install the product.  It's free to try, and you'll soon know.  If you are having trouble with a particular module, please use the support forums to seek assistance.

Q: Will this module run in a medium trust environment?

A: Yes and no.   The module will run OK in medium trust, for the purposes of Url Rewriting and generating Friendly Urls.  However, in a medium trust environment, the module will not have the ability to write the settings to the web.config file.  This means that the 'Apply Changes' button will not work - it will fail with a security exception.

To run the module in medium trust, you will need to manually configure the web.config file.  The instructions on doing this are in the Install Instructions.

General Usage Questions

Q: I've installed the module, but my terms and privacy links are different for every page.  Shouldn't the Url Master module fix it so that there is only one Url for the terms page, and one for the privacy page?

A: You probably don't have a Home page selected in your portal site settings.  Go to the Admin->Site Settings page and select a home page for your site.  This will 'anchor' the Terms and Privacy links to the home page, resulting in a single Url throughout your website.

Q: What is this message I find in my site event log, which says 'Tab Dictionary built and cached: 159 items. Reason: Force Rebuild True;Bypass Cache False;Dict=null;' ?

A: This is an informational message to inform you when, how often and what size the Page Index is for your DotNetNuke installation.  The Page Index is the foundation of your DNN Urls, it's how the Url Master performs so quickly in resolving a friendly Url into the correct DNN page.  You may be receiving page index rebuilds if your IIS server is frequently recycling the app pool, or flushing memory due to insufficient memory capacity. The size of the cache tells you how much memory the cache is taking.  The rough rule of thumb is that it uses 30 bytes per entry, multiplied by the number of items.  If you have too many portal aliases, too many deleted pages (empty your DNN recycle bin) the page index will get larger.  However, the size of the index does not affect lookup performance, as it is done on a keyed, strongly typed Dictionary object.  The 'Reason' tells you if the index was forced to be rebuilt by a change in page Urls (a new page, or a change in page name), and whether or not the cache was bypassed for an example.  You can ignore these values - they are used to trouble shoot installations.  The cache settings are independent from the DNN cache settings from version 1.10.04 onwards, and can be changed in the 'Friendly Url Settings' page.

Q: After installing the Url Master module, some of my images and javascript links are broken. What's wrong?

A: What you are probably experiencing is the change in rewriting method used when installing the Url Master module. There are two options when performing Url Rewriting with ASP.NET. One is to 'rebase' all client urls, which means that any urls referenced from a relative path (ie ) will be converted as though they are relative from the virtual (or original path). If you choose not to rebase Client Urls, any links from the Html will be treated as though they are relative to the rewritten path, or, in the case of DNN, the site root (because all rewritten urls are to /default.aspx). From version 1.11.15 onwards, you have the choice of choosing whether to use client rebasing or not. This option is under 'Advanced Rewriting Options'. If you are writing code for your site, the best method is to use the call to 'ResolveUrl()', which will choose the correct (site root) base for the Url.

Q: I'm setting my site up using a temporary domain name, and I'll switch over to my permanent domain name when I'm finished.  What will I have to change when this is finished?

A: You won't have to change anything in the Url Master software.  All of the Urls work from the current 'Portal Alias' value, so when you switch over the Portal Alias, all of the Urls on the site will switch over as well.  Just be sure to not hard-code any links into Html content in the site using the temporary Url.  It's a good idea to redirect from your temporary domain name to your permanent domain name by using the Portal Alias selection in the Portal Urls page.

Q: Why can't I see the Url Master module in the list of installed modules on the 'Module Definitions' page?

A: The Url Master module is installed as a 'host' module, which means it's only accessible to host and admin users.  This is why you can't see it in the 'Modules' drop down in the DotNetNuke control panel , and why it doesn't show up in the list of installed modules in DotNetNuke 4.x versions.   DotNetNuke 4.x doesn't have a category for Host Modules that also display on the installed third-party modules list.

Q: I didn't follow the uninstall method in the module, and just went straight to the 'Uninstall' button in the Module Definitions site.  Now my site doesn't work.  How do I fix it?

A: You need to manually edit the web.config file to restore the standard DNN friendly Url provider.  See the KnowledgeBase topic Manually Removing the Url Master configuration for more detail.