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Hints on Installation onto a Foreign Provider Server

Not everybody runs his own server or has rented his own dedicated server at a provider, but merely has got a rented web space account from an internet service provider.

Basically the operation is also possible with a rented web space account if the provider meets the system requirements. On the one hand installation is easier, since many steps drop out, on the other hand difficulties may occur, since normally in case of a rented web space account – for good understandable and comprehensible security reasons – access onto your own configuration files is impossible. And – not every internet service provider is helpful and flexible enough to realise special wishes. On our internet page http://www.portunity.de we published a list of internet service providers where customers installed the Portalsuite successfully.

In the following we itemised the most important steps of an installation onto a web space account at a provider. We assume that you have access onto the web server per FTP, on which PHP 4 is installed with the modules „mysql“, „gd“ and „imap4“ as well as the „Zend Optimizer“. A telnet or SSH access is not needed. The operating system does not play a major role.

Step 1: Unpack
Unpack the file „ps2002.tar.gz“ or „ps2002.zip“ which has been delivered or downloaded from our website on your local workstation. You can unpack the tar-version under Linux with the following commands:

gunzip _ps2002.tar.gz
tar –xvf _ps2002.tar

Under Windows you will need corresponding programmes to unpack the „tar.gz“ or the „ZIP“ format. After the file has been unpacked, there should exist the directory „_ps2002“ with miscellaneous subdirectories and files in the current directory.

Step 2: Adapt configuration file
Adapt the configuration file „config.ini“ in the Portalsuite directory „/global/config“.In the variables please enter the MySQL server data you obtained from your internet service provider and save the file.

Step 3: Upload per FTP
Now please start your FTP programme and establish the connection to the server of your provider resp. your web space directory. Load the complete Portalsuite directory including all subdirectories and files into the root directory of your web space account, so that the Portalsuite-subdirectories „admin“, „content“, „reseller“, „global“ etc. are located in the root directory of your web space account.

Step 4: Configuration of the SQL data base
Next you have to apply the data tables in the MySQL data base. The file ps2002.sql in the Portalsuite directory /global/soft is intended hereto. This file contains all commands for applying the tables in the MySQL data base and for filling them with the first data.
The exact way of importing this file differs a little in case of every provider. Some provide comfortable web-based utilities for this, others do not provide auxiliary programmes. In this case you will need the mysql client to establish the connection to the data base and to transmit the commands to the SQL server of the provider:

mysql –h sqlserverip –u username –p ps2002 < ps2002.sql

„sqlserverip“, „username“ and „ps2002“ (the name of the data base) of course has to be replaced by the access data which are valid for your SQL server installation. After the password request and successful login all commands of the „ps2002.sql“ file are executed and several dozens of tables should be applied.

Step 5: Checking PHP
If you only enter the IP or the domain you obtained from your provider, you should attain to the so-called Portalsuite Jumppoint. That is quasi about a menu page on which icons of the different Portalsuite applications are presented and linked.

Next please check if PHP version 4 is already installed correctly. Thereto we deposited a link „Show PHP version“ on the Jumppoint page. If you select this link you should get elaborate information on your PHP installation and version.

If the information page cannot be loaded correctly, you have either no PHP installed or the standard file extension „.php“ is not implemented correctly on the web server.

If the information page appears, please check if the modules „mysql“, „imap“ and „gd“ are supported (support has to stand at „enabled“). If the page does not appear, possibly you have to compile PHP newly and reinstall it.

If something gets wrong here, i. e., if modules are missing or the page cannot be executed at all, you have to consult your provider.

Step 6: Checking the „Zend Optimizer“
Next please check if the Zend Optimizer is already installed correctly. Thereto you select the link „Show PHP version“ on the Jumppoint page again. In the third box of the information page, very likely still on the first screen page of the browser, you find the desired information (in the box there is the Zend logo on the right). If there is only something said about the „Zend Engine“ in the box, but nothing about the „Zend Optimizer“ is mentioned, the Zend Optimizer is not yet installed. If you get a message which corresponds with this one, the Zend Optimizer is installed:

This program makes use of the Zend scripting language engine:
Zend Engine v1.0.6, Copyright (c) 1998-2001 Zend Technologies
with Zend Optimizer v1.1.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2000, by Zend Technologies

The only important line is the third line. If it is included, the Zend Optimizer is installed and you can proceed with the next step.

If the „Zend Optimizer“ is not yet installed, you have to contact your provider and ask him to install the Zend Optimizer. Tip: Point at the fact that the „Zend Optimizer“ is a tested standard product of the company Zend which is already used by many providers worldwide, and that it accelerates the execution of PHP files by up to 200 percent, therewith reduces system load – and that you need it to execute the Portalsuite PHP binary files and furthermore the „Zend Optimizer“ is available for free download at http://www.zend.com.

Continue to recommend this article:

Direct links to the new Portalsuite 2002:

- Productinfos
- Download

- Support overview
- Support forum