Create your own community on the web with phpBB2, a powerful open source bulletin board system for your web site. With it, you can create topics and allow visitors to your web site to discuss these topics. Your visitors can make comments and reply to other people's comments. With support for unlimited forums, topics and posts you can have as large or as small of a bulletin board as you like.
phpBB2 requires your visitors to sign up for an username and password for access to your forum. This prevents malicious use of your bulletin board. You will also set up an Administrator account which will allow you to configure various preferences and remove unwanted posts.
This document describes step-by-step how to install phpBB2 on your web site. The installation is done using Fantastico which is built into cPanel. Configuration is done from the phpBB2 administrator area after it is installed.
Step 1: Log in to your cPanel.
Step 2: Once you are logged in, click the 'Fantastico De Luxe' icon in under the 'Software / Scripts' menu.
Step 3: You are now at the 'Fantastico' screen. To the left is the 'Navigation' menu. Look through this menu for the 'phpBB2' link (under the 'Discussion Boards' section) and click on it.
Step 4: The options for installing phpBB2 should now be on the right side of the screen where you will see a large phpBB logo. Find where it says 'New Installation' and click on it.
Step 5: You are now at the installation screen for phpBB2. There are several options you will have to enter here in order to install your bulletin board. Here is a list of all the options and what you should enter for each one:
Install on domain
Where it says 'Install on domain' and has a pulldown menu showing your main domain name, use the pulldown menu to select which domain you want your bulletin board to be on. If you only have one domain name, leave this as is.
Install in directory
Where it says 'Install in directory', enter the name of the directory you want the bulletin board to be installed in. For example, if you want your domain name is example.com and you want your bulletin board to be located at http://www.example.com/forums you would simply enter 'forums' in this space (without the quote marks of course). Do not enter any / marks here.
Administrator-username (you need this to enter the protected admin area)
Where it says 'Administrator-username (you need this to enter the protected admin area)', create a username for your administrator account. This account gives you full access to configure phpBB2 and change various options. You can also remove unwanted and questionable posts from users. Your admin username can be anything you like.
Password (you need this to enter the protected admin area)
Where it says 'Password (you need this to enter the protected admin area)', enter a password to use for your administrator account. This password is used in conjunction with the administrator username you just chose. Your password can be anything you like. For security, it is suggested you use a password that contains both letters and numbers since it is stronger than a password which only contains one or the other.
Site name
Where it says 'Site name' and has your domain name entered, enter the name of your bulletin board. You could enter something like 'My Bulletin Board' or 'Widgets Corporation Customer Bulletin Board' (without the quote marks). You should notice your domain name is entered here automatically. You also have the option of leaving this as is.
Short description
Where it says 'Short description', enter a short description of your bulletin board. You will notice the words 'Enter a short description' already placed in the text field. Replace this with your description. For example, lets say you are the Widgets Corporation and you want a bulletin board for your customers to discuss various aspects of your products. In that case, you might enter something like 'Widgets Corporation lawn and garden products discussion group'. This will be displayed on the first page of the bulletin board.
Admin e-mail (your email address)
Where it says 'Admin e-mail (your email address)', enter the e-mail address you want to associate with your administrator account. You will notice your main e-mail address is entered here. You can leave this as is or replace it with another e-mail address.
Preferred Language Where it says 'Preferred Language', use the pulldown menu to select the language you want your bulletin board to use. English is already selected, leave this as is if you want your bulletin board to be in English. phpBB2 supports many different languages. However, we can only provide technical support for english bulletin boards.
Step 6: Check all of the information you entered to make sure everything is entered as it should be. Once you have verified this, click the 'Install phpBB2' button and wait patiently to be taken to the next step in the set-up process.
Step 7: You are now at the screen where you will double-check your installation options. Some of the information you entered in the last step will be displayed here. Check it again to verify it is all correct. Once you have done that, click the 'Finish Installation' button to complete the installation. Wait patiently for the script to install. You will be taken to a screen which shows the success of the installation as well as the addresses for your forum and the administration area. Click both of these links to make sure the forum and the administrator area are working correctly. Also log into the administrator area using the administrator username and password you selected to make sure you can get in.
For more information on how to configure and use phpBB2, visit phpBB2 support from the phpBB2 web site. You can also subscribe to their mailing list if you want to receive announcements and information on the latest releases.
If you are having trouble setting up this script or if you receive an error, please contact support.
|
