Installation

Thanks to the web installer, Joomla! can be installed in only a few minutes.
In order to install Joomla! on your local PC, it is necessary to set up your "own internet", for which you'll need a consisting supported browser, a web server, a PHP environment and as well a Joomla" supported database system. We call this a LAMP stack (or XAMP) and a client server system. The Joomla! files will be copied to this system and configured with the Joomla! web installer.

Minimum system requirements:

• an installed and functioning web server, like Apache or Microsoft IIS, version 1.13.19.
• the PHP scripting language, version 5.2.4. PHP support for MySQL and Zlib must be compiled into PHP. Zlib is a library that allows PHP to read file packages that are compressed with the ZIP-based technique.
• the MySQL database system, version 3.23.x or higher, for Unicode character sets MySQL 4.1.x.

Installation variants

Since this issue is the same for all PHP-based systems, I would like to refer you to the chapter installation variants of PHP-based systems.

Stumbling stones

This topic is very complex because there is a vast number of providers and an even greater number of installed web server, PHP, MySQL versions and web space management tools. Crunchpoints during the installation often consist of:

• an activated PHP Safe Mode, preventing you to upload files,
• 'forbidden' rewrite paths with the Apache web server because the so-called Apache Rewrite Engine (mod_rewrite) is not activated,
• the directory permissions on Linux and OSX, which are set differently than in Windows.

Basically, the easiest way that almost always works, is the following:

• Download the current file package from Joomla.org to your home PC and unzip everything into a temporary directory.
• Load the unpacked files via FTP onto your rented server or to the directory of your local installation. The files must be installed in the public directory. These directories are usually called htdocs, public_html or html. If there already are other installations in that directory, you can specify a sub directory in which your Joomla! files should be installed. Many web hosts allows you to link your rented domain name to a directory.
• You have to find out the name of your database. In most cases, one or more databases are included in your web hosting package. Sometimes, the names of the user, database and password are already given; sometimes you have to set them up first. Usually you can do this in a browser-based configuration interface. You will need the database access information for Joomla!'s web installer.

Joomla! web installer

Download Joomla! 1.6 at joomla.org and unpack the files into your root folder of the web server (e.g.: /htdocs). From now on, everything is going to go really fast because the Joomla! web installer is working for you. Go to URL http://localhost/.

Step 1 – Selecting a language

The web installer appears with a selection of languages. Choosing the language is the first of seven installation steps. Set the desired language, and click the Next button (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Installer – Select language

Step 2 – Installation check

The Installation check (Figure 2) should help you verify whether your server environment is suitable for the installation of Joomla! or not.

Figure 2: Installer – Installation check

It's a good sign if you see mostly green test results. Depending on your configuration, there can be differences. The Joomla! Installer considers the configuration settings of the web server (in our case Apache), PHP, and the operating system. When using Unix Systems (Linux, Mac OS X), you have to pay attention to file permissions. This is particularly important for the file configuration.php. This file will be generated at the end of the installation with your personal values. If the installer can not write in the folder, Joomla! can not create the file and the installation will fail. In this case, try to configure the rights and then click the button repeat check. Then, click the Next button and you will get to the step license.

Step 3 – License

Each software product is somehow licensed. Joomla! is licensed according to the GNU General Public License, version 2.0 (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Installer – License

Step 4 – Database

In the fourth step database configuration, your data base parameters will be requested (Figure 4). You can create any number of databases in your local server environment. You have a MySQL user with the name root. The user root is the MySQL administrator and can, therefore, do everything in your MySQL system. The password depends on your server environment (no password is needed with XAMPP, with MAMP the password is root).

Figure 4: Installer – database configuration

Enter the following values into your local installation:

• computer name: localhost
• user name: root
• password: [only you know that]

Now select the database name. In a productive environment on a database server with a provider, you probably have a fixed quota of databases and the database credentials are predefined. If you have root permission on your MySQL server, you can enter a name of a new database. Joomla! will then create that database.

By clicking the green triangle at advanced settings, additional options will appear. You can select whether the tables of any existing Joomla! installation in this database should be cleared or saved and marked with the prefix bak_.

The MySQL table prefix is really practical. In front of each table name generated by the web installer, it writes the text that you typed in the appropriate field. As a default, the web installer suggests jos_ . This has a simple reason. Sometimes you may only be able to get one MySQL database from your provider. If you want to run two or more Joomla! sites, you have a problem, as the tables do not differ from each other. With the table prefix it is possible to distinguish several tables (jos_client1_ or jos_client2_). Here, you should use the default jos_ . The prefix is also used to indicate saved data (bak_); see above.

Step 5 - FTP-configuration

In order to avoid problems with access rights and possibly turned on PHP Safe Mode, you have the possibility to use the FTP functions of PHP for the upload and file handling. This is not necessary in a local installation. If you have installed Joomla! on a virtual server with your provider, you can enter the FTP data provided by your ISP. If your provider allows this function, it is advisable for security reasons, to create different FTP accounts for users and for the Joomla! installation. Activate the FTP account just for that Joomla! directory (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Installer – FTP-configuration

Step 6 - Configuration

The main configuration is divided into three steps.

In the first part of the configuration the name of your site is requested. This name will appear in the title bar of the browser window when someone accesses your site. The name is also used at various other places, such as in confirmation emails to registered users. For our example page, I'll use the name Joomla! (Figure 6). In the second part, the name, e-mail address and administrator password are requested. Writing down the password on a piece of paper is probably the best (but do not stick it on the screen or under the keyboard :-)).

Figure 6: Installer – Configuration – Name, E-Mail, Password

In the third part, you specify the type of data your Joomla! installation should contain.

Installation of sample data

The data is the most important thing in your installation. Joomla! allows (and strongly recommends for beginners) the installation of sample data. You will be provided with a small manual about Joomla! and many examples to experiment safely. Click the button install sample data. The installer will load the data into your database and change the display (Figure 7). This process is somewhat unimpressive but necessary for installing sample data. The button will disappear and a small text box will be visible.

Figure 7: Installer – Configuration – Sample data

Click on the button NEXT and the data will be transferred.

Step 7 – Completion

In the seventh and final step you will be congratulated on having successfully installed Joomla! (Figure 8). Congratulations from me as well! You will now see an advisory in bold letters appearing in the display, prompting you to delete the directory called 'Installation'. You should follow this advisory because your Joomla! website will otherwise not run properly.

Now that you have fully installed Joomla! you can begin configuring your website and content. You have the choice between the buttons Site (see website) and Admin (administration interface). Go ahead and have a look at your newly created website and click on Site. In case you have not yet deleted the installation directory, you will once again receive a friendly reminder to do so now and then refresh the page.

The result looks very impressive (Figure 9).

Figure 9: Your website directly after installation

Have a look around, browse through a few options and try to familiarize yourself with your new site. Many features of Joomla! are being used on this website filled with sampla data. Next, we are going to look at these in detail!