Before you start actually moving or copying a DotNetNuke 6 installation, you should prepare the DNN database to recognize the new host and application name.
Under Admin/Site Settings/Site Aliases click on Add New Alias, and add the new hostname/applicationname (or just hostname, if the new installation is directly under web root). (found on SO)
Next, copy the DNN directory to the new location, and add a DNN web application in IIS pointing to the new location. Make sure the IIS user (typically IUSR) is allowed to access the file system directories.
In SQL Server Management Studio, backup the original database. Create a new database and restore from the backup. If the database is restored to a different server, make sure the DNN user is able to access the new database.
Adjust the 2 connection strings to point to the new database.
Everything should run fine by now.
If you somehow forgot to add the new host aliases to DNN database, the DNN web application will not startup and present an error message indicating that the host/application names do not match any portals.
Locate the new database in SSMS, and open the PortalAlias table in edit mode.
Update the column HTTPAlias of the migrated portal(s) to the root URL of the new DNN installation.
Open the PortalSettings table in edit mode and change the SettingValue column of SettingName = ‘DefaultPortalAlias’ for the portal(s) to the same values.
Restart the web application. DNN should run now.
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