Joomla installation

The Joomla installation begins. There are six steps (screens) you need to go through, use the "Previous" and the "Next" buttons to navigate. In the first screen, select your language and click next.

In the second screen, have a look at the pre-installation check. If you followed the instructions, everything should be ok. (This single red "on", is safe to ignore, it will cause no problem.)

Next is the standard GNU GPL, the fourth screen follows that requires some attention. The first pull-down menu lets you select the kind of database you're using. Yours is MySQL so, no need to change the default. In the host name, type "localhost" which is an alias meaning "the host you are already on". This tells Joomla that the database is located on the same server.

Now installation needs to know the credentials for the MySQL database user. You are going to use root although this is not a good idea for a production server as far as security is concerned. However, do not have any worries for your test environment.

So, in the "Username" field type root. Do not confuse the Ubuntu system root account (passwordless) with the MySQL root account (the password you entered when you installed MySQL) and finally type the database name. It is the “joomla” database you created with the mysqladmin command.

You can skip the FTP configuration at this point. Just click "Next".

On the last screen you need to give a name to your site, type in whatever you like. Also, fill in the administrator e-mail field as well; it doesn’t have to be a valid one. The Joomla administrator is called "admin" by default. Choose an administrator password and write it somewhere not to forget it. Click on install Sample data. This will populate some sample data into your site to help you begin with.

Congratulations, you’ve finished! Well almost, as prompted you need to remove the installation directory before you begin using your Joomla site.

Return to your Putty window and type:

rm -rf installation

This will remove (rm) recursively (-r) and forcedly (-f) the installation directory. Don’t forget you are still elevated to root, type carefully! Also give:

chmod 644 configuration.php

Since the configuration file does not need to be world-writable any more we apply "normal" permissions. You may now log out from your server and close Putty. Use "exit" to exit "root mode" and "logout" to logout.

Back to your browser, click on the "Site" icon, on the upper right corner and here it is! Your site, with the sample data, have a look around. To go to the administration panel, add "/administrator" to the end of the url. Enter "admin" and your admin password. You are ready to administer your newly created Joomla site.

Have fun!

Please, use the forum to post any comments/suggestions/questions.

George Fragkiadakis.