- Domain Name
Your domain name is what people will type in the address bar of a web browser to visit your web site. Just like you would give your street address to someone who wanted to visit you at home, your domain name is the address that people will use to find your web site. Domain names can be registered relatively cheaply at a great many domain name registrars.
- Hosting
Once you have a domain name, you will need a physical location to host your web site. Just like your street address represents the location of your physical home, your domain name will point people to the place where your web site is hosted.
We use and recommend Hostgator
Visit Hostgator
- Download
It is recommended that you only download Zikula from a trusted source. With the eventual development of custom distributions of Zikula, it is possible that you may come across a downloadable version of Zikula from a site other than Zikula.org. If you are unsure of the download location, you may search the forums on Zikula.org for information on the download site’s level of trust.
- FTP Client
FTP clients are programs that enable you to transfer files to and from a remote server. Even if you are installing Zikula using an automated script like Fantastico, you will need an FTP client to transfer additional modules, blocks, and/or themes to your Zikula installation.
We recommend Filezilla, a free and open source FTP client.
Download Filezilla
View a Filezilla video tutorial
Web Host Checklist
All quality web hosts will have all of these features installed. If you choose Hostgator as your web host, you can be assured that all requirements for hosting your Zikula web site will be met and exceeded.
- Linux. Using under Windows is possible but not recommended
- Apache web server software
- PHP scripting language, compiled with MySQL support
- MySQL database, version 4.1.6 or higher
- MySQL management software like phpMyAdmin
- 15 megabytes of disk space minimum. It is recommended that you have 30 megabytes or 100 megabytes or more for a larger site.
Please note: I am a Windows user and fan but do not recommend using Windows for your Zikula server. It's about using the right tool for the job and in the case of web servers, Linux is the better tool for running a server for your Zikula web site. If you are an expert on running Windows servers then you can make your own decision.
This assumes that you are running Microsoft Windows on your desktop and are installing to a remote web server. Please note that the following instructions are meant to compliment the official installation instructions and are not designed to replace them. Always read the installation documentation from top to bottom before you attempt to install Zikula.
- Locate the Zikula distribution archive that you downloaded. Windows is capable of working with Zip files (has the .zip extension) itself, but if the distribution archive that you downloaded isn’t a Zip file you may require an addition program to decompress the archive. A quick search using your favorite internet search engine will typically locate the proper tool required.
- Right click on the distribution archive and choose “Extract All…”. By default, a folder with the name of the distribution archive will be created at the extraction destination. Clicking the “Extract” button will start the extraction in the specified location.
- Once the extraction procedure is complete, you will need to transfer the contents of this new folder to your web server. Connect to your web server using your FTP client and navigate to the location where your web site content should reside. This folder is typically named “www”, “public_html”, or something similar. If you cannot determine the correct location, you should contact your web host. Transfer the extracted contents of the distribution archive to your web host.
- While the files are being transferred, it’s a good time to create the MySQL database required for your new Zikula installation. The procedure for creating this database will vary depending on your web host. Take note of the database name, user name, and password, as all of these will be required during the installation procedure.
- Use your web browser to navigate to http://yoursitename.com/install.php where “yoursitename” is the actual domain name for your web site.
- Follow along the installation procedure, change permissions as needed using your FTP client and enter the database information from step 4.
- Post installation tasks should be completed now like changing permissions and removing installation and/or upgrade files.
- Log into your new site as the administrator and get customizing.