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How to install phpBB in 10 minutes or less!

Rezdwan Hamid

www.rezdwanhamid.com

http://www.rezdwanhamid.com/

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

For more information on how you can copy, distribute and transmit this ebook, please visit my License page.

Published August 2008

http://www.rezdwanhamid.com/license/

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

Dedications

To my lovely wife, who is very understanding and supportive of me no matter how busy I am in the pursuit of my dreams. My undying

thanks to her.

To my beautiful daughter, whose smile every morning is brighter than any sunrise. I thank her for giving me the inspiration to be

successful in everything I do.

Table Of ContentsPreface........................................................................................................................................1

Conventions............................................................................................................................1Erratas....................................................................................................................................2Questions................................................................................................................................2Feedbacks..............................................................................................................................2Contact....................................................................................................................................2

Introduction.................................................................................................................................3Assumptions................................................................................................................................4Part 1: Create MySQL database and user..................................................................................5

Step 1: Log in to cPanel..........................................................................................................6Step 2: Create MySQL database............................................................................................8Step 3: Create MySQL user..................................................................................................11Step 4: Add user to database...............................................................................................13

Part 2: Download and prepare phpBB......................................................................................17Step 1: Download phpBB......................................................................................................18Step 2: Prepare phpBB.........................................................................................................21

Part 3: Upload and install phpBB..............................................................................................23Step 1: Upload phpBB..........................................................................................................24Step 2: Install phpBB............................................................................................................35Step 3: Post installation........................................................................................................45

Recommendations....................................................................................................................47

Preface

Preface

I have written this ebook as a guide to those who are new to installing phpBB. If you have never run your own site and/or install softwares on a server, because you find it to be a daunting task, then this ebook is for you.

As much as possible, I try to stay away from using too much technical terms. Instead, I prefer to use simple terms that anyone can understand. The step-by-step approach along with screenshots should make installing phpBB a breeze even for a complete beginner.

Conventions

In this ebook, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kind of information. Listed below are some examples of those styles and an explanation of their meaning.

Cautions – Any warnings that you need to be aware of will look like this paragraph.

Notes – Any useful information that you may want to know will look like this paragraph.

Tips – Any useful tips and tricks that you may be able to apply will look like this paragraph.

In addition to the examples above, two different typefaces will be used to describe outputs from the screen and inputs that you will have to type in. For outputs from the screen, the text will be in bold. For inputs that you will need to enter, the text will be in italic.

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Preface

Erratas

Although I have taken every care to ensure the accuracy of the contents, mistakes do happen. If you spot any mistakes in this ebook, please report them to me by sending me an email. By doing so, you will not only help me improve my ebook but also help other readers.

Questions

This ebook was not meant to be a comprehensive guide for installing phpBB. If you have any questions regarding the installation process, feel free to send me an email and I will try to assist you in the best possible way that I can.

Feedbacks

I am constantly improving my ebooks for the benefit of the readers. Your invaluable feedbacks is one of the ways I can improve my ebooks. Let me know what you like or dislike about my ebooks by sending me an email.

Contact

To contact me regarding any of the abovementioned issues, please visit my site at www.rezdwanhamid.com and click on the Contact link that is available at the top of the page or within the sidebar of the page.

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http://www.rezdwanhamid.com/contact/

http://www.rezdwanhamid.com/

Introduction

Introduction

Millions of people use phpBB on a daily basis, making it the most widely used opensource bulletin board system in the world. Whether you want to stay in touch with a small group of friends or are looking to set up a large multi-category board for a corporate website, phpBB has the features you need built in.

Newer users will appreciate phpBB's extensive administration panel, which allows the customization of even the most intricate features without having to edit code directly, while advanced users will value the ease with which phpBB can be integrated into existing systems.

Because phpBB is released under the GNU General Public License, you may make changes to the code without first having to obtain permission from the phpBB Group. Our extensive database of user created modifications makes changing and adding features as simple as pasting code into the appropriate files, while the styles database contains hundreds of style and image packages to customise your board.

The detailed documentation and video tutorials available on this site will help you get phpBB running on your server in minutes. If you have any questions, members of the community will be happy to assist you with anything from configuring the software to modifying the code for your individual needs.

Excerpt taken from About phpBB page.

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http://www.phpbb.com/about/

Assumptions

Assumptions

It is impossible to cover all the different hardware, software and server configurations that everyone may have. Therefore, a few assumptions has been made and it should cover the most common ones.

I am assuming that

● you are using Microsoft Windows 95 or higher as you computer's operating system.

● your web hosting account is running on Linux.

● your web hosting account is using cPanel.

● you do not want to install phpBB using Fantastico for more flexibility.

● you do not want to install phpBB in the root folder but in a subdirectory (for eg. http://ww.domain.com/forum/).

● your web hosting account meets all the requirements that is needed by phpBB (such as PHP, MySQL and etc).

Except for the last item, the assumptions above is not meant to serve as requirements that must be met. Other setups will still be able to install phpBB and the methods may differ slightly. Most of the time, whatever that is written is this ebook applies to other setups too.

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Part 1: Create MySQL database and user


1. Log in to cPanel

2. Create MySQL database

3. Create MySQL user

4. Add user to database

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Step 1: Log in to cPanel

Open your web browser and go to your cPanel page. The URL is usually something like www.domain.com/cpanel/ where www.domain.com is replaced with your actual URL.

You will get an Authentication Required dialog box as shown above. Fill in your User Name and Password that is given to you by your web hosting company. Once you have filled in both fields, click on the OK button.

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After you have successfully log in to cPanel, you will see a page similar to the one shown above. This is your cPanel page.

If this is the first time you log in to cPanel, I strongly suggest that you change your password to something that you can easily remember. Simply click on the Change Password icon in the Preferences group. Follow the instructions on the next screen to change your password.

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Step 2: Create MySQL database

At the cPanel page, scroll down to the Databases group as shown above. Click on the MySQL Databases icon.

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You are now in the MySQL Databases page as shown above. In the New Database field of the Create New Database form, type in forum and then click on the Create Database button beside it.

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You will get the Added the database forum. message as shown above. This means that the database has been created. Click on the Go Back link to go to the MySQL Databases page.

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Step 3: Create MySQL user

Back at the MySQL Databases page, scroll down until you see the Add New User form as shown above. For the Username field, type in forum and then create your own passwords for the Password and Password (Again) fields. After you have filled in all three fields, click on the Create User button.

You can choose to create your own passwords or you can use the Generate Password button beside the Password field. Please make sure you copy down the generated password if you use it.

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You will get the Added user forum with the password <your-password> message as shown above. Click on the Go Back link to go to the MySQL Databases page.

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Step 4: Add user to database

Scroll down to the Add User To Database form as shown above. Click on the Add button.

If you have other database and/or user, make sure you have selected the database and user that you have created only for phpBB.

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You will be shown the Manage User Privileges form. Click on the check box beside the text that says ALL PRIVILEGES as shown above. The rest of the check box will be clicked automatically. After that, click on the Make Changes button.

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You will get the User <your-username> was added to the database <your-database>. message as shown above. Click on the Go Back link to go to the MySQL Database page.

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At the MySQL Databases page, you will now see your new database and new user in one row of the Current Databases form as shown above.

Do write down the database name, database user and the database user password as we will be needing it for the third part of the installation process.

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Part 2: Download and prepare phpBB


1. Download phpBB

2. Prepare phpBB

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Step 1: Download phpBB

Open your web browser and go to http://www.phpbb.com/downloads/. You will get the Downloads page as shown above. Click on the DOWNLOAD STABLE RELEASE button to go to the next page.

At the time of this writing, the latest stable version of phpBB is version 3.0.2. This may change over time.

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http://www.phpbb.com/downloads/


At the next Downloads page, look for the [ Full Package ] heading as shown above. Click on the Download phpBB 3.0.2 (zip) link to start the download process.

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A dialog box appears as shown above. Click on the Save File radio button and then click the OK button. Make sure you know where the file is saved on your hard drive.

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Step 2: Prepare phpBB

Once the download is complete, go to the folder where the file is saved. Extract the file and find the phpBB3 folder as shown above.

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You will only need the phpBB3 folder to install phpBB. Before zipping up the phpBB3 folder, rename it to forum and then zip it up. You should now have a forum.zip file as shown above. Do remember where this file is located on your hard drive.

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Part 3: Upload and install phpBB


1. Upload phpBB

2. Install phpBB

3. Post installation

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Step 1: Upload phpBB

Open a web browser and go to your cPanel page. Scroll down the page and look for the File Manager icon under the Files group as shown above. Click on the File Manager icon.

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A File Manager Directory Selection dialog box appears as shown above. Select the Web Root (public_html/www) radio button and then click on the Go button.

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You should now be at a page called File Manager as shown above. Click on the Upload icon that is at the top of the page.

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You will now get an Upload files page as shown above. Click on the first Browse... button.

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A File Upload dialog box appears as shown above. Click on the forum.zip file that you have prepared earlier and then click on the Open button.

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An upload status bar appears as shown above. Once the upload is complete, click on the Back to /home/<your-username>/public_html link to close this page.


The File Manager will automatically refresh and you should see the forum.zip file as shown above. Click on the check box beside the forum.zip icon and then click on the Extract icon at the top of the page.

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An Extract dialog box appears as shown above. Click on the Extract File(s) button to start extracting the file.

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Close the Extraction Results dialog box that appears by clicking on the Close button. After the file is extracted you can now see a forum directory as shown above.

You will no longer need the forum.zip file. You can click on the check box beside it and click on the Delete button at the top of the page.

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Before you can install phpBB, you will need to change the permission for one file and four folders. They are forum/config.php file, forum/cache folder, forum/files folder, forum/store folder and phpbb/images/avatar/upload folder.

Navigate your way to the first file and first three folders as shown above. Click on the check box beside forum/config.php file, forum/cache folder, forum/files folder, forum/store folder and then click on the Change Permissions icon at the top of the page.

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A Change Permissions dialog box appears as shown above. Click on all the check boxes until the permission changes to 777. Click on the Change Permissions button.

Do the same for the phpbb/images/avatar/upload folder.

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Step 2: Install phpBB

Open your web browser and go to http://www.domain.com/forum/ where www.domain.com is replaced with your actual domain. You will see a page similar to the one shown above after you have clicked on the INSTALL tab.

Click on the Proceed to next step button to continue.

35


An Installation compatibility status appears as shown above. All item should be green with either a Yes, Available, Found and/or Writable. Do not worry about the Supported databases section as long as you have one compatible database.

If there are outstanding issue that you may need to fix, contact your web hosting company for assistance. If everything is in good order, scroll down the page and click on the Start install button.

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Next, you will be see the Database configuration form as shown above. For the Database server hostname or DSN, type in localhost.

For the Database name, Database username and Database password, enter the fields with the information that you created in part one of the installation process. After that, you can click on the Proceed to next step button to continue.

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If you had provided all the correct information in the previous step, you should get the Successful connection message as shown above. Click on the Proceed to next step button to continue.

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Now you will get the Administrator configuration form as shown above. All the fields are self-explanatory and you should be able to fill all of them. Once you have filled in all the fields, click on the Proceed to next step button to continue.

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If you had provided the correct information in the last step, you should get the Tests passed message as shown above. Click on the Proceed to next step button to continue.

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The next page will inform you that the configuration file has been written as shown above. Click on the Proceed to next step button to continue.

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The next page that you see is the Advanced settings page as shown above. You now have the opportunity to make any changes that you want here. You can always go back to this page once you are logged in as an administrator.

After you have made the changes you want, scroll down and click on the Proceed to next step button to continue.

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The next page will then inform you that the database tables has been created as shown above. Click on the Proceed to next step button to continue.

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If everything goes well, you will get the Congratulations! message as shown above.

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Step 3: Post installation

Open a web browser and go to your cPanel page. Start the File Manager and navigate to the forum folder. Click on the check box beside the install folder and then click on the Delete button at the top of the page.

A Delete dialog box appears as shown above. Click on the Delete File(s) button.

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Navigate to the forum/config.php file and click on the check box beside it. Click on the Change Permissions icon at the top of the page. A Change Permissions dialog box appears as shown above. Uncheck the boxes as shown above until you get the permission as 644. Click on the Change Permissions button.

That's it! Your site is now powered by phpBB.

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Recommendations

Recommendations

By now you must be eager to install osCommerce yourself. Before you even sign up for a new web hosting account, I suggest that you subscribe to my ezine called Sites! to learn more about building your own site from the ground up.

Subscribe now and you will receive my free report entitled, 7 Secrets Of Cheap Web Hosting – What Web Hosting Companies Don't Want You To Know. Whether you are new or have been with a web hosting company for some time, this report will definitely be an eye-opener.

I hope that this ebook has helped you in one way or another. If you feel like sharing this information and help others just like you, please visit my License page for more information on how you can copy, distribute and transmit this ebook.

I have written a few other ebooks in the same category as this one. If you are new to hosting your own site, you may want to visit my eBooks page and find other ebooks that may be of interest to you.

47

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