phpBB is very flexible in terms of server requirements, and you have a lot of options. But let's concentrate on the configuration that is most widely used, consisting of:

phpBB was designed with portability in mind, so all of the requirements listed above are very flexible. Let's look at them in more detail and also see what options you have.

Now that you're clear on the requirements, let's explore the options for the system to install phpBB to:

If you want to set up the environment on your computer, you have two options: to install all the necessary components one by one, configure them, and make them work together, or to use one of the all-in-one installations (bundles) you can find on the Internet. They usually include one downloadable installer program that takes care of installing and configuring all you need—Apache, PHP, MySQL—and often more. Such all-in-one bundles are XAMPP (http://www.apachefriends.org/en/) and others that are listed at HotScripts, for example (http://www.hotscripts.com/PHP/Software_and_Servers /Installation_Kits/).

If you want to set up your environment yourself and not make use of the bundles available out there, here's what you need to do.

phpBB will need access to a database, so you'll have to use an existing database or create a new one. Depending on whether you'll be installing on your local computer or on a remote server, you'll have different options for setting up the database required by phpBB; we'll take a look at those options. If you have a choice, use a new empty database for phpBB; it makes maintenance easier.

Setting Up the Database for Local Installations

If you're installing phpBB on your personal computer, you should have no restrictions creating a new database to use with phpBB. You can do that by using phpMyAdmin or using the console (the command prompt). With phpMyAdmin, creating a new database is really easy; this is one of the first options you're presented with when you load the application. If you don't have phpMyAdmin installed, you can use the command prompt to create a new database. Let's see how to do it both ways. For the purposes the examples in this chapter, let's say your new database is named "forums".

Time For Action—Creating the Forum Database with phpMyAdmin

1. Go to your main phpMyAdmin page.
2. Enter the text forums into the Create new database field.
3. Click the Create button.

What Just Happened

You've created a new database. In the database dropdown that you see in your phpMyAdmin on the left, you will now find a new option—the "forums" database that you've just created.

Time For Action—Creating the Forum Database Using the Command Prompt

1. Access your command prompt. (Windows users, click Start, then Run, and then type cmd).
2. In the command prompt (console window), follow the path to where MySQL is installed using cd directory_name to enter a directory (cd as in "change directory") and cd .. to go back (one level up), if you've mistakenly entered a wrong directory.
3. Once you are in the directory where MySQL is installed, go to the bin directory, where you'll find several MySQL executables.
4. Type mysql -u root -p.

   Note

   This instruction means "connect to MySQL using the username root and ask me for a password". root is the default username when MySQL is installed. If you have created other MySQL user accounts, you can use one of those accounts.

5. When prompted to provide a password, hit Enter (Return on Macs). What this means is you give a blank password. Username root with a blank password is the default MySQL account. If you have changed this password, type it in.
6. You'll see a welcome message and the mysql prompt if you've successfully connected. Type CREATE DATABASE forums; and hit Enter. Do not forget the semicolon at the end.
7. If you want to verify that the database has been created, type SHOW DATABASES; and hit Enter. You should see your newly created database in the list.
8. That's it. Type exit, hit Enter and MySQL will politely say Bye to you.
9. Type exit again to close your command prompt.

Setting Up the Database for Remote Installations

In this case the process may vary considerably depending on your specific hosting package and its limitations. Here are some possible scenarios:

• Some hosts give you one database only with a predefined name. Find out what that name is; this is the database you'll be using.
• Some hosts let you create your database(s) with phpMyAdmin installed on their server.
• Some give you a different web interface for creating a database as part of the hosting package's control panel.
• Some can give you shell access to their server. Shell access means you'll be able to use a command prompt and execute instructions (commands) on the remote server. In this case, find out from your hosting provider how to establish a shell connection to your server. After you're connected, repeat the steps for creating a database using the command prompt as previously described. This time you'll be using the database username and password given to you by your host.In order to establish a shell connection you'll need a program called a shell client. A popular choice is the free PuTTY telnet and SSH client(http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/).

Tip

Security tip: If at all possible on your host, create a new MySQL user account, give it only privileges to the new database you've just created and use it for the phpBB installation. This may seem a bit too paranoid, but the reason is that usually hosts give you one username and password only and it's good for everything—FTP, MySQL, control panel, and shell access. So the reason behind creating a new MySQL username/password combo is that if it gets revealed for some reason, the villain who has it can do only limited damage. This password is good for one database only and not FTP, shell, or control panel access.

When creating this new database user account, it's a good idea to assign only "select", "insert", "update", and "delete" privileges; the other possible privileges are not needed for the normal functioning of phpBB. The phpBB installation, though, will also require a "create" privilege and some modification installations might need "alter" or "drop" privileges. So the most security-oriented option would be to assign "select", "insert", "update", "delete", and "create" privileges to the new database user, and once the installation is completed, remove the "create" privilege.

The actual process of creating the new database user may vary, depending on your hosting provider's policies. Some might not allow it, some might give you a special interface for it, and some might give you access to phpMyAdmin. Creating a new MySQL user account using phpMyAdmin is pretty straightforward; just click the Users link on the phpMyAdmin main page and then fill out the Add form.

If you're using the command prompt for creating a new user, use the following query:

GRANT SELECT,INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE,CREATE
ON forums.*
TO ‘mysecretusername'@'localhost'
IDENTIFIED BY ‘mysecretpassword';

In this example, forums is the database name, localhost is the database host name, mysecretusername is the username to be assigned to this database user, and mysecretpassword is the password.

You're now ready to install phpBB. But take a minute to answer the following questions before you go on; it's just to double-check that you have everything you need:

A note about FTP: You'll need an FTP program, also known as an FTP client, in order to transfer files from your computer to a remote server. There are a lot of free/trial FTP programs you can use. Just a simple Google search will yield a lot of results. Generally, using an FTP program is not much different than copying files to different locations on your local computer. The difference is that you need to establish a connection to the remote computer first. In order to do that, you need an FTP hostname, a username and a password, which you probably already have, supplied by your hosting provider.