Drupal

By Joe Gardiner Tuesday, 2nd March 2010

What you will need:

All the information from you vCluster Details page and Database Settings page. This includes: access server, public IP, database server, username, database name (the same as your username), and your database password. For quick reference during the Drupal install, you may find it useful to copy these details into a text file.

The newest version of Drupal, available to download from drupal.org

A file extractor that is compatible with the .zip format. OSX and Windows handle this format natively.

An FTP program. You can use a program like FileZilla, or if you use Firefox web browser, there is an FTP add on available called Fire FTP. If your not sure which client to use have a look at this article.

A text editor. Notepad or Text Edit will both be fine.

A web browser. We like Firefox.

The official Drupal install guide is available here.

Getting Started

Unzip your downloaded Drupal install to a folder on your desktop. We are now going to copy the “default.settings.php” file and change permissions. This step is vital for a successful Drupal install.

MacOSX and Linux Terminal

Open a terminal. You can either type terminal in your finder/search bar, or look in application -> Utilities in OSX.

Type: “cd desktop/drupal-6.15/sites/default” note: the Drupal directory name will change with different versions.

Check you have the correct files in the default directory by typing “ls”. You should have “default.settings.php” displayed.

Now we’re going to make a copy of the “default.settings.php” file and rename it. We need both files for the install to be successful.

Type: “cp default.settings.php settings.php” Now type “ls” to display the new settings.php file along side default.settings.php.

Finally we need to change the permissions on the file to give access to the Drupal installer. This is one simple command.

Type: “chmod a+w settings.php”

That’s it! You can close your terminal.

Windows OS Command Prompt

Open a Windows command prompt by typing “cmd” in your search bar.

Type: “cd desktop/drupal-6.15/sites/default” note: the Drupal directory name will change with different versions.

Check you have the correct files in the default directory by typing “dir”. You should have “default.settings.php” displayed.

Now we’re going to make a copy of the “default.settings.php” file and rename it. We need both files for the install to be successful.

Type: “COPY default.settings.php settings.php” Now type “ls” to display the new settings.php file along side default.settings.php.

Finally we need to change the permissions on the file to give access to the Drupal installer. Navigate to the desktop/drupal-6.15/sites/default folder through Windows explorer. Right click on the settings.php file and select the “Security” tab. Select “Edit” and choose the Full Control check box under the SYSTEM permissions list.

That’s it, you can close this window.

Uploading

To upload Drupal files to the root directory of your vCluster follow the FTP upload guide.

To upload Drupal files to a sub-domain on your vCluster follow the vHosting guide.

Installing Drupal

Now we’re now going to install Drupal using your web browser. Fire it up and navigate to drupal.username.vc.catn.com.

Drupal will take you through the installation procedure starting here:

Choose your language to continue. On the next screen we’re going to enter our database information.

Leave the default “mysqli” option checked.

In the “Database Name:” field enter your database name. Note: your username and database name will always be the same.

In the “Username:” field enter your username.

In the “Password:”field, enter the password you copied from the Database Settings section of the control panel.

Now we’re going to change the advanced options, so click on the drop down menu arrow.

The “Database Host:” field requires the name of your database server. Again, this can be found on the Database Settings section of the control panel and will resemble this: “xserve1.dc.fubra.net”

You can leave the “Database Port” field blank.

I recommend adding a table prefix for the Drupal database, especially if you are using multiple domains and different CMS’s, so lets enter “drupal_” as our prefix.

Once you have entered all this information select “Save and Continue” to move on.

If you were successful you will be directed to the “Configure Site” page.

Now enter your site name, and the email address you wish to receive alerts to. Unlike other CMS’s you can choose a unique username for the administrator account, instead of the default, however, unless you are completing this install for someone else to administer, it is often simpler to use “admin” as the administrator username. Once you have decided on a name, enter the other personal information, and select your time zone.

Once you have entered all the information, select “Save and Continue”, and if successful will be directed to this screen:

Click the link to go to your new sites administrator section. You will automatically be logged in as the admin account. Success, you have completed your install of Drupal.