Joomla : Installation    Putting the Files on the Server  

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Installing Joomla is simple. It basically involves the following steps:

  1. Get the Joomla package
  2. Unzip it and transfer the files to your site
    -or-
    Transfer the package to your site and unzip and untar it
  3. Run the install program from your browser
  4. Modify some file permissions on your server
  5. Copy the config file to your server
  6. Delete the install directory

This tutorial will cover the first two steps, and the next tutorial in the series will cover the rest of the steps.

Joomla is a PHP program. Your server needs to have PHP installed. The installation tutorials will show how to install Joomla on a Unix based machined with PHP installed. Most hosting providers that are running Unix have accounts available with PHP installed.





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This tutorial will show you how to install Joomla version 1.0.8, step by step.

First, open the Joomla Project Release page.





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Here's a screenshot of the page taken on May 4, 2006. The list of files on this page changes constantly, so you'll probably see a different list.

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You'll want to find a file that contains the phrase "Stable-Full Package". The files with name "patch" are only partial Joomla packages.

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Next we're going to

  1. download the package to our local machine,
  2. unzip the package to extract all of the files and folders,
  3. upload the files to our server.

These steps will be demonstrated Windows XP. If you are using another operating system the steps will be similar. If you already know how to download and unzip a file archive and upload files to your server, you can skip ahead.





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We're going to download the file ending in ".zip". Click on the link, to get the download dialog.

(If you know how to unzip a gz file and your server has shell access, you can save a bit of time by downloading the gz file instead and unzipping it directly on your server. If you know how to do that, you can skip the rest of this tutorial and proceed to the next one.)

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Here we have the Save As dialog - we'll save the package to the Windows Desktop.

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The browser starts downloading the file.

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The file has been downloaded. Click on Close.

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Here you can see the file has been downloaded to the desktop.

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Now we need to unzip the files in the package. If you have Winzip installed, you can simply double-click on the package. If you have Windows XP, you can also unzip the package by right-clicking on the package and choosing Open With - Compressed (zipped) folders. That will open a screen like the one shown. The sidebar menu (1) should be showing. If it is not, click on the Folders icon (2).

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Click on Extract all files.

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The Zipped Folders Extraction Wizard starts.

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Click Next. By default the files and folders will be extracted to a folder with the same name as the package.

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The folders and files begin extracting...

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The files have finished extracting.

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Click on Finish. The extracted files are shown.

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Now you just need to transfer all of the extracted files to your web server. Your hosting provider may have a web interface for doing this. You can also upload the files using a program like CuteFTP or Filezilla. If you already know how to upload files to your server, you can skip the rest of this tutorial and go to the next tutorial in this series.

The next few screens will demonstrate uploading the files using Filezilla. Filezilla is an open source program that can be downloaded from this site. To install, find a file name "FileZilla**setup.exe", download this file to your desktop and run it. For example, at the time of this writing, the most current version of FileZilla is contained in a file named FileZilla_2_2_22_setup.exe.





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Here we have opened FileZilla.

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Select File - Site Manager.

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The New Site dialog opens.

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Enter the information for your server (you can get this from your hosting provider).

  1. Site Name (this is a name you choose)
  2. Host: the name of your server. This will usually be your domain name.
  3. Servertype: Choose SFTP if your server allows it, otherwise choose FTP. (You can try SFTP, and if it doesn't work, switch to FTP).
  4. Logon Type: Normal
  5. Enter your username and password (get this from your hosting provider).
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Click Connect. (If you get a message asking you about the server key, click OK).

FileZilla connects to your server. The following window panes are displayed:

  1. FTP messages
  2. Your local machines files
  3. Your servers files
  4. File upload progress
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In the window pane displaying your local files, navigate to where you put the Joomla files. In this case, since we put the files on the Desktop and were logged in as user1, the files are located at

C:\Documents and Settings\User1\Desktop\Joomla_1.0.8-Stable-Full_Package\

By double clicking on the appropriate folders, we've navigated to the Joomla package folder.

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Now we just need to transfer the files from our local system to the server. In this set of tutorials, we're going to be installing Joomla at www.nycircuits.com, which is located on servers hosted by www.pair.com. We need to navigate to the folder on the server where www.nycircuits.com is located. This will vary depending on your hosting provider. If you don't know where your domain is located, check with your hosting provider.

In this screenshot we've navigated to the Joomla files on our local machine (1), and to the folder where the www.nycircuits.com domain is located (2). We're ready to transfer the files.

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To start the file transfer, simply select the files in the Joomla folder (you can select all by entering <Ctrl><a>), and then dragging the files over to the pane displaying the server files.

  • This pane shows FTP messages from the server
  • This pane shows the progress of your file uploads.

 

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There are a lot of files to upload, so it will take a while to finish. When the files have finished uploading, close FileZilla and proceed to the next tutorial in this series.




Text Author: Joe Orr   Copyright 2006 All Rights Reserved