Create a Sitefinity Project for Your Portal Site

Create an empty database in your SQL server

SQL User Creation and User Mapping (On‑Prem Setup only)

Sitefinity requires that the SQL account used to connect to its database has db_owner rights. In most development scenarios, you can re‑use your existing SQL login or Windows account, which already has sufficient permissions. For production on‑premise environments, DBAs may provision a dedicated service account with db_owner rights for compliance, auditing, and isolation.

If a new account is required, create a SQL user and map it to the database created in the previous step. Ensure that the user has db_owner permissions on this database.

Creating a Sitefinity WebApp

Sitefinity projects are now created directly in Visual Studio using NuGet packages, rather than the legacy Project Manager tool.

To create a new Sitefinity WebApp:

1. Open Visual Studio and select Create a new project.
2. Choose ASP.NET Web Application (.NET Framework) as the project type.
3. Follow the prompts: provide a project name, select the directory location, and ensure the target framework is .NET Framework 4.8.
4. Click Create to initialize the project.

After creating the project, install Sitefinity CMS via NuGet Package Console as described in the official documentation: Sitefinity Installation Guide (expand the pane called Install Sitefinity CMS, and scroll down to “In Visual Studio, perform the following”).

Note: As of now, the highest supported version of Sitefinity CMS for Portal Connector is Sitefinity 15.3. We intend to release support for 15.4 by 2026.

Site Setup