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How To Install PostNuke 0.750 Gold
What is PostNuke?
PostNuke is a web portal and content management system which you can use to build your
own community. You can post articles and news (or even have registered users to do so), keep
side bars of links, and polls. You can create a whole interactive web site with PostNuke.
Requirements:
To use PostNuke, you need to be sure your CGI account is set up. Please
see How To Request A CGI Account
for more information. You may also need to have a MySQL account set up if the
script accesses a MySQL database. Most PHP-based scripts require this. Please
see How To Request A MySQL Database.
You will also need to download a copy of
PostNuke. The version used in this tutorial was PostNuke 0.750 Gold.
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IMPORTANT SECURITY NOTE! Always be sure you have
installed the latest updates and/or patches for the script as well as for any
additional add-ons. Updates are very important to the security and proper
functioning of the script! Our instructions may be for earlier versions of
scripts due to the fact that we are not able to keep up with updates to every
script at all times. It is still up to the domain owner to install and use the
latest version of these scripts.
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Restrictions:
Remember that only your main account can access CGI scripts on your server. Any
hosting or extra FTP accounts that access these scripts may cause your account
to be deactivated and you'll have to contact
support.
For PostNuke to work correctly, please do not put it or it's
directories inside your cgi-bin directory. If you do, the script may not work.
It's best to use a separate directory and leave the cgi-bin directory for your
smaller scripts.
Installation:
Extract the files from the PostNuke archive to a directory on your hard drive called
PostNuke.
Since .psd files are not allowed on the CGI server, we must move a few of them out
of their directory. Go into the PostNuke/html/themes/PostNukeBlue/images directory and
move (not copy) the following files to the PostNuke directory itself. You'll
then have an html directory, a phoenix-sql directory, and 5 .psd files in the
PostNuke directory. Here are the files to move:
Banner.psd
BannerBott.psd
BlockRTop.psd
HeaderBottom.psd
TRcorner.psd
We are now ready to upload. Log into your cgi server (this is normally cgi.yourdomain.com
where yourdomain.com represents your actual domain name). Next create a postnuke
directory (be sure that there are no upper-case letters, for best results). You can actually
name the directory anything you wish, but for this tutorial we are assuming you named the
directory postnuke.
Transfer all the files from inside your PostNuke/html directory on your hard drive to the
postnuke directory on your cgi server. Note that you do not want to upload the html
directory itself, but the files and directories within it. NOTE: The upload
process will take a little under one hour if you are on a broadband connection. If you are
on dialup, it will be much longer. The amount of files to upload totals 8.37 MB.
Change the file permissions of config.php and config-old.php to 666.
Change the file permissions of the following directories within the pnTemp
directory to 777:
pnRender_compiled
pnRender_cache
Xanthia_compiled
Xanthia_cache
Xanthia_Config
Installation is finished. You can now proceed to the Configuration.
Configuration:
In your web browser, visit: http://cgi.yourdomain.com/postnuke/install.php substituting
yourdomain.com with your actual domain name.
Select your default language and click the Set Language button.
Click the Next button after you have read and agreed with the GPL License.
On the next page, if you see a red check mark next to any files or directories in the list,
then log back into your cgi server and change the file permissions accordingly. All green
check marks mean all is ok. Press Continue button when done.
The next page is the Configuration Setup. Here are the items you need to change. Note that
you should replace yourdomaincom with your actual domain name but without
the dot in your domain name.
| Database Host: |
localhost |
| Database Username: |
yourdomaincom |
| Database Password: |
MySQL Database Password |
| Database Name: |
yourdomaincom |
| Table Prefix (for Table Sharing): |
postnuke_ |
| Database Type: |
MySQL (Default) |
| Database Table Type: |
MyISAM (Default) |
Site is for intranet or
other local (non-internet) use: |
Leave UNchecked |
Press Submit button
Click the New installation button
Click the Start button. NOTE: You do not have root access so leave the
Create the Database check box UNchecked.
If all went well, you should now see a message that says in red No
database made and a list of tables that start with postnuke_. Click on the
Continue button.
Change your login username, password, email and site URL and click the Set Login
button.
The next page will show another list of tables starting with postnuke_. Click the
Finish button.
Log into your CGI server and remove the install.php file and the install folder
from your postnuke directory.
PostNuke is now set up and ready to use. To set it up the way you want it to look, read the
Customization section below.
Customization:
This section will show you some of the items in which you can use to use to further customize
your PostNuke web site. This section will not go into any detail on every feature.
Please consult the PostNuke web site for more information
regarding how to customize your site and also for additional templates you can use to create
the look you want.
There are two areas in which you will need to set up first, at the very least. To get started,
visit your PostNuke site at http://cgi.yourdomain.com/postnuke/index.php (be sure to
substitute yourdomain.com with your actual domain name). Log in using your Admin
username and password.
My Account
In the far left menu, click on the My Account link. In the main page area, click on
the Edit Your Information link. Edit any information you need to change. This page
is pretty much self-explanatory. Click the Save changes button when done.
Administration (Site Setup)
Click on the Administration link in the far left menu. Next click on the Settings
icon (it is the last icon in the 4th row). Below are some settings you may need to change:
| Site Name: |
Type in the name of your site.
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| Site Logo: |
Type in the full path to your logo (leave as logo.gif if you don't have a logo of
your own). This path should be something similar to http://yourdomain.com/images/logo.gif
(substituting yourdomain.com with your actual domain name) or wherever your logo is
located.
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| Site Slogan: |
Type in a slogan or saying that will appear with your logo. Leave blank if you don't have
one or don't wish to use one.
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| Meta Keywords: |
Type in a list of keywords that describe your site. These are keywords that search engines
will look for and use.
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| Administrator e-mail address: |
Type in your email address here.
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| Default theme for this site: |
To set this up, you first have to activate some themes. Several come with PostNuke. To
activate them, click on the link "Inactive Xanthia themes are not included in this list"
and then click on Add theme next to the ones you want active. Then click the
back button on your browser and refresh the page. Now you can pick a theme from the
drop-down box.
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| Allow users to override theme: |
Click yes if you want users to be able to choose their own theme or no to make sure
only the theme you wish to use is displayed.
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| Time zone offset: |
Set your time zone here. This will be the board's default time zone setting.
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| Start Page: |
For now, you can leave it at news but you can change it to display a different page
when someone visits your PostNuke site.
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The rest of the page you don't have to change but you may browse through the other options
and change what you feel you need to. If you don't understand any of it at this point, just
leave the option as is and consult the PostNuke manual.
Click the Save changes button when done.
Other Customization Options:
If you need more information on the setup of these modules, please consult the
PostNuke manual.
Add story: Add a story to the News section.
Admin Messages: This section is good for posting messages that you want users to pay
special attention to. Messages posted here will always show up as the first message on your
site news area.
Autolinks: Set up keywords which will automatically be linked. Then type in the link
to which a visitor should be sent when they click on the keyword. For example, if you typed in
MyProduct as a keyword and then a URL such as http://myproduct.com, then
every occurrence of MyProduct will become a link to http://myproduct.com.
Banners: Set up a banner rotation here.
Blocks: Set up the side blocks here. Examples of side blocks are blocks such as poll,
menu, articles, etc. You can activate (show) and deactivate (not show) any block.
Censor: Set up words you do not want people to use in their news stories or posts.
Comments: Set up comments moderation, size and whether or not you wish for registered
or anonymous users to post.
Downloads: Set up your download areas and configuration if you wish to allow people
to access downloads from your news posts. NOTICE: Active Web Hosting discourages
visitors from uploading files to your CGI server, so please be sure that only YOU
(the domain owner) are able to provide downloads! Click on the Downloads Configuration
link at the bottom of the page and then set the last option Let unregistered users post
new downloads to no.
Ephemerides: Use module to set daily events. The text will be displayed on the date
specified.
FAQ: Create your own FAQ section, including categories.
Groups: Here you can add different groups that certain users can be set to be a part
of. See Permissions and User Administration below.
Languages: You normally won't have to do anything with this area. This module is used
to manage your languages and translations.
Mailer: This module sets up your mailer for sending email to other users. Leaving all
settings at default should work.
Mail users: Use this form to send an email to all users.
Modules: This is where you set up what modules you wish to allow people to use. This
list will appear on the left. Click on the List link then click on deactivate
if you don't want the module to show up in the main menu or activate if you want it
to show up in the main menu. Note that this is also a good place to learn what each module
is all about. Please do not edit any module unless you know what you are doing!
Permissions: Here you can set up the permissions for each user level (including any
groups you had created). In the Operations column, the first icon will insert a group,
The second icon will let you edit the options, and the third X icon will delete that
entry. Click on the Component or Instance link to find out what options to
enter in those boxes.
pnRender: This is a setting that is best left as is unless you know what it is for.
Check the PostNuke manual for more
information.
Polls: Manage polls that visitors can vote on.
Quotes: Add quotes that randomly appear on the site.
Ratings: Click on Modify configuration in this area to manage your rating
system. The settings are self-explanatory.
HTTP referrers: This shows a list of places users were before they arrived at your
site. Use delete referrers button to clear this list. Click on the HTTP referers
configuration link to configure your options, which are self-explanatory.
Reviews: Here you can manage the Reviews section, create new review categories, edit
and delete reviews, etc. Reviews can be written by you or any registered user.
Sections: This is where you add different sections and associated graphics.
Settings: This is the main site administration that you set up earlier.
Submit News: Use this area to set up email notification. If you enable it, you will
receive email whenever a user submits a news article.
Topics: This is where you add different topics and associated Graphics for your news
posts.
Top List: Set how many items are viewed in the top articles list on your page.
typetool: Set whether or not you wish to enable the TypeTool Visual Editor
Implementation which gives you graphical buttons to use for common text formatting functions
while creating posts.
User administration: Manage registered users here. You can also set up the type of
registration from the User registration configuration link at the bottom of the page.
Web Links: Add links to your site. Note that you must add a category first! Then you
can add links to that category. These links will show up in the Web Links link off
the left side menu. NOTE: Link IDs go in order of which they were submitted, the
first link ID being 1. If you want to know what the Link ID is, just click the
validate link at the top of the page, then Check ALL links and finally count
down to the link you want to work with.
Xanthia: Manage your themes here.
Troubleshooting:
I get a database error when I try to run PostNuke.
Be sure that you have set up the configuration properly in step 5 of the Configuration
section above.
Support:
If you have any problems or questions about this program please see the
PostNuke web site.
Active Web Hosting may not be able to provide support for this program or it's
installation.
Alternative Software:
Below you'll find a list of alternative software that you may also want to try.
Click on the program name to go to the author's site. Click on the 'Tutorial'
link to view our installation tutorial.
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