Setting up and installing phpBB3

phpBB version 3 is one of the most configurable and functional – yet more importantly free – pieces of forum software on the market today. It is a highly efficient forum board which can be suited and styled to fit the themes of any website out there today. I’m going to discuss the easy way to get one of these forums installed and underway.

Deciding the location

Where you install your forum is entirely up to you. In the demo video I have shot it is installed to a sub folder of my main website called ‘forum’. However you may wish to have a dedicated website for your forum and if that is the case, install it to the root of the site (just under public_html)

How the forum will appear as an address in the webbrowser:

• Installed as a subfolder: http://www.martinglover.co.uk/forum
• Installed at the root: http://www.martinglover.co.uk

Uploading the files and installing

Easy Method

When you come to get the forum software you have two choices. In my demo I’ve shown the easy option of using the one click install feature that comes with my hosting provider – http://andthenhost.com . Basically it asks where you want to install the software to and you click install. Leaving the sub domain folder field blank will install the forum to the root. Once this is complete you get a link to go to the setup page. From here you click ‘Install’ and next through all the options inputting the relevant information. All the database fields are configured for you. Really simple.

Manual Method

If you are doing the manual install method you will need to get the files from phpBB themselves from phpBB.com. Then extract the phpBB folder from the zip file and upload the contents to your server into the relevant folder where you want the forum to appear. Use an FTP program such as Filezilla to do the upload. You need to make sure you set the config.php file to file permissions 777 (read write execute for all) while you install. (Remember to change it back to its original when installed!)

Once you have uploaded all the files you will need to create your database and database user, and make a note of the password. This information you will need in the setup.

Installing

Going thorugh the install process is relatively simple and is just a case of following the onscreen instructions. Visit the localtion you installed the site to and go to the install directory. As per my example, the locations would be as follows:

• Installed as a subfolder: http://www.martinglover.co.uk/forum/install
• Installed at the root: http://www.martinglover.co.uk/install

Once on the page you will get the prompts to add your database details. If using the one click install method, then this will all be pre filled for you. If using the manual setup, the database details will need to be inputted. Use the details you made a note of earlier to do this.

The next screen is choosing your login details and admin email address. Make a note of these details when you input them too as you’ll need to remember them for administering your forum. Once complete you are almost ready to go.

Make sure you delete the install directory after completing the setup, and remember to change the file permissions of the config.php file back to 644.