Documentation
1.2. Installation
phpBB 3.0 Olympus has an easy to use installation system that will guide you through the installation process.
After you have decompressed the phpBB3 archive and uploaded the files to the location where you want it to be installed, you need to enter the URL into your browser to open the installation screen. The first time you point your browser to the URL (http://www.example.com/phpBB3 for instance), phpBB will detect that it is not yet installed and automatically redirect you to the installation screen.
Figure 1.1. Introduction
The introduction page of the installation system.
1.2.1. Introduction
The installation screen gives you a short introduction into phpBB. It allows you to read the license phpBB 3.0 is released under (the General Public License) and provides information about how you can receive support. To start the installation, click the Install tab (see Figure 1.1, “Introduction”).
1.2.2. Requirements
Important
Please read the section on phpBB3's requirements to find out more about the phpBB 3.0's minimum requirements.
The requirements list is the first page you will see after starting the installation. phpBB 3.0 automatically checks if everything that it needs to run properly is installed on your server. In order to continue the installation, you will need to have PHP installed (the minimum version number is shown on the requirements page), and at least one database available to continue the installation. It is also important that all shown folders are available and have the correct permissions set. Please see the description of each section to find out if they are optional or required for phpBB 3.0 to run. If everything is in order, you can continue the installation by clicking the Start Install button.
1.2.3. Database settings
You now have to decide which database to use. See the Requirements section for information on which databases are supported. If you do not know your database settings, please contact your hosting company and ask for them. You will not be able to continue without them. You need:
The Database Type - the database you will be using (e.g. mySQL, SQL server, Oracle)
The Database server hostname or DSN - the address of the database server.
The Database server port - the port of the database server (most of the time this is not needed).
The Database name- the name of the database on the server.
The Database username and Database password - the login data to access the database.
Tip
If you are installing using SQLite, you should enter the full path to your database file in the DSN field and leave the username and password fields blank. For security reasons, you should make sure that the database file is not stored in a location accessible from the web.
Figure 1.2. Database settings
The database settings screen, please make sure to have all the required data available
You don't need to change the Prefix for tables in database setting, unless you plan on using multiple phpBB installations on one database. In this case you can use a different prefix for each installation to make it work.
After you have entered your details, you can continue by clicking the Proceed to next step button. Now, phpBB 3.0 will test and verify the data you entered.
If you see a "Could not connect to the database" error, this means that you didn't enter the database data correctly and it is not possible for phpBB to connect. Make sure that everything you entered is in order and try again. Again, if you are unsure about your database settings, please contact your host.
Tip
Remember that your database username and password are case sensitive. You must use the exact one you have set up or been given by your host
If you installed another version of phpBB before on the same database with the same prefix, phpBB will inform you and you just need to enter a different database prefix.
If you see the Successful Connection message, you can continue to the next step.
1.2.4. Administrator details
Now you have to create your administration user. This user will have full administration access and he will be the first user on your forum. All fields on this page are required. You can also set the default language of your forum on this page. In a vanilla (basic) phpBB 3.0 installation we only include English [GB]. You can download further languages from www.phpbb.com, and add them later.
1.2.5. Configuration file
In this step, phpBB will automatically try to write the configuration file. The forum needs the configuration to run properly. It contains all of the database settings, so without it, phpBB will not be able to access the database.
Usually, automatically writing the configuration file works fine. But in some cases it can fail due to wrong file permissions, for instance. In this case, you need to upload the file manually. phpBB asks you to download the config.php file and tells you what to do with it. Please read the instructions carefully. After you have uploaded the file, click Done to get to the last step. If Done returns you to the same page as before, and does not return a success message, you did not upload the file correctly.
1.2.6. Advanced settings
The Advanced settings allow you to set some parameters of the board configuration. They are optional, and you can always change them later if you wish. So if you are unsure of what these settings mean, ignore them and proceed to the final step to finish the installation.
If the installation was successful, you can now use the Login button to visit the Administration Control Panel. Congratulations, you have installed phpBB 3.0 successfully. But there is still a lot of work ahead!
If you are unable to get phpBB 3.0 installed even after reading this guide, please look at the support section to find out where you can ask for further assistance.
At this point if you are upgrading from phpBB 2.0, you should refer to the upgrade guide for further information. If not, you should remove the install directory from your server as you will only be able to access the Administration Control Panel whilst it is present.