Quick Installation via FTP

Warning: FTP is not the recommended way of installing as it may suffer file upload corruption. You should use Installation via Shell if you can and FTP as a last option.

Although this step-by-step guide may seem rather involved at first glance, if you work from step to step without worrying about the next ones, all should run smoothly. You should also check the system requirements before you start.

Step 1

Download the latest stable release if you want to use CMSMS in a production environment.

Step 2

Unzip/untar* that file with a zip/tar programs to a directory somewhere on your computer and remember where you saved it. All files will be saved in a folder with the name 'cmsmadesimple'.

Note: Since all the files come in a tar type of compressed file these instructions still hold true, you just have to get a program to untar it as they say, it's just a 2 step "unzip" proccess, 7Zip is one type for windows users.

• Note: When you transfer the files check and make sure that if you have a preexisting .htaccess file in the root that it isn't going to interfere with your install, maybe rename it to htaccess.txt till after your site is up and running then go to the Optional Settings page to see how to use it.

Step 3

With your FTP program, upload all files in the exact same structure to the root (preferred) or to a subdirectory on the server where you want to install CMSMS. If you are using a hosting provider the root directory will be public_html. Locating the files in public_html will make your site available to users as www.domain.com. If you create a sub-directory below public_html (eg. public_html/somename) your web site will only be available the sub-directory as www.domain.com/somename.

Tip: If you have control panel access (e.g. CPanel, DirectAdmin, etc.) to your website you can FTP the relevant install or diff ".tar.gz" file to the root directory (e.g. public_html) or sub-directory on your web server. Then using your control panel's file manager you can extract the contents of the installation file. This will definitely be quicker than using FTP to upload all the individual files and probably more reliable too. Don't forget to delete the ".tar.gz" file from the server when you're done.

Step 4

For the script to access the folder properly, you need to change permissions of the following files and directories on the server. The required permissions are different, depending upon what account PHP runs under on your web server.

If you do not know what user PHP runs as, ask your hosting provider or server administrator.

If the web server process (Apache, for instance, often known as "httpd", "nobody", "www-data", etc) runs PHP and "owns" the files that it writes, then you'll need to use 777 permissions on directories that need to be writable, and 666 on files that need to be. The reason for this is, while you (your user) may own the directories and files, another user (the web server) needs to be able to write in/to them.

CHMOD these directories to 777:

• tmp
• tmp/templates_c
• tmp/cache
• uploads
• uploads/images
• modules

Notice : some hosting contexts may need the modules directory be chmoded 755 (or 775) instead of 777 in order to make modules (like the WYSIWYG TinyMCE editor) work.

CHMOD?!? Well, in most cases you can alter the permissions by right-clicking in your FTP program on the directory or file in question, selecting CHMOD or File Attributes (or something similar) and enter 777 in the appropriate field. Otherwise, check the manual of your FTP program.

If you (your user account) runs PHP (such as in a suexec PHP/cgi environment), then typically, no changes are needed on permissions of CMSMS files. Use permissions of 755 for directories, and 644 for files; and never CHMOD anything to 777. In this environment, PHP files (and the directories they are located in) can only be writable by the user; not by 'group', and never by 'other' (world-writable). If scripts seem to abruptly terminate and you see errors (500 status code) in your logs, it could be because a script or a directory containing one is writable by 'group' or 'other'.

Step 5

The config.php file will be automatically created during the installation and filled with the required information.

Step 6

Create an empty database. Depending on your host you may use a program like phpMyAdmin, or your host's control panel.

You can select any name, username, and password for the database (just make sure to remember it!). But to make it even easier when you install CMSMS (step 7-10), you can use the following:

• Database name: cms
• Username: cms_user
• Password: cms_pass

Note: Some hosts only allow you to use one database. Then you will have to use that database (and the username and password that you use to login into your database). If that is the case, you can skip step 6. Only make sure to use a prefix for the tables (step 10 below) that separates the CMSMS tables from other tables that you also may be using in the same database.

Some hosts provide for the creation of the database using the MySQL database function in the host's control panel. Creating the database may have to be done first, then when created, the user name and password are assigned. You may be required to precede the database name and user name with your host assigned user code. This is perfectly okay, but as indicated note everything carefully.

Step 7

Now, in your browser, type the URL of the directory where you put the files (step 3), e.g. http://www.yoursite.com/index.php. This should take you to the installation wizard. If it doesn't, go to http://www.yoursite.com/install/index.php

Step 8

Select your language. The next screen (see image to the right) is checking that you have set the correct permissions. If all tests are succesful, click Continue.

If you receive any errors, make sure you've given the folders the correct permissions.

Step 9

You should now select a user name, e-mail address, and password for the admin.

Note: this is for access to the CMS Made Simple administration once the installation is finished; these are not the user name and password that you gave when creating the database (step 6).

Step 10

In the next step you need to enter the database information. For Database name, Username and Password, enter the same information as when you created the database in step 6. In most cases all other settings can be left as they are. However, if your host forced you to include your user name as part of the database name and user name, then ensure they are entered exactly the same here.

Ask your hosting company if you encounter difficulties.

Note 1: Uncheck the box Create tables if you use an existing database with CMS Made Simple content that you don't want to remove (for example if you upgrade or repair). Otherwise leave as is. Tables from other systems, like a phpBB forum for example, will be unchanged and not dropped or deleted.

Note 2: If you find you are not getting past this point, it may be that when you created the database (step 6) you didn't grant yourself permissions. It's insufficient simply to observe that the ALL check box has been ticked assuming that all permissions have been granted. You have to run a query, for which a go button may be positioned nearby that does this for you. Go back to the control panel (back to where you were before, eg. MySQLdatabase) and hit the go button.

Step 11

In the next screen, if all is [done], everything was installed successfully and CMSMS is ready for use! Congratulations!

It is wise to write down the CMS Document root, the path to the Document root and the Querystring in case you need this information.

Step 12

Go to your FTP program again and set permissions for config.php to 444 for security reasons!

Remove the /install directory completely!

Step 13

Go to your site and read the first page carefully.

Have a look at the post installation optional settings like pretty URLs.

Step 14

Strange problems after an installation or upgrade are often caused by one or more files failing to upload correctly. Use the checksum file to verify that no files are missing or were corrupted in the upload.

Download the appropriate checksum file from the Forge, e.g. cmsmadesimple-<version>-base-checksum.dat or cmsmadesimple-<version>-full-checksum.dat. If you have renamed your admin directory then open the .dat file in a text editor and search and replace "/admin/" with "/<my-admin-directory>/" (approx. 290+ instances).

Now select the 'System Verification' link on the 'Site Admin' menu, locate your downloaded checksum.dat file and press submit. It may take a few seconds to return the results. If you have deleted the /install/ directory then those files will be reported as missing. You may also get told that various index.html files in the /tmp directory are missing or invalid/corrupt. Likewise with the SITEDOWN file.

Note: the checksum only verifies the core and the core modules. Any additional modules you've added are not verified.

This is also a useful check if you suspect your site has been hacked to help identify possible hacked files.

This page in: English - Deutsch - Español - Français - Italiano - Lietuvių - Nederlands - Norsk - Polski - Česky - Русский - Svenska - Tiếng Việt - عربي - 日本語 简体中文

User Handbook/Installation/Quick Install

From CMSMS