b2evolution Tutorial and Installation How To

The following tutorial describes how to install b2evolution with your NEXCESS.NET web hosting account. NEXCESS.NET supports b2evolution on all of our shared and reseller hosting packages, as well as our managed dedicated servers. This tutorial is meant to help you quickly setup and configure b2evolution 2.4 with our web hosting service.

b2evolution is an advanced weblog tool, like Blogger or Typepad. b2evolution is distributed under the GPL ("General Public License") meaning it's free to download and use. What distinguishes b2evolution from other rival bloging applications is the simplicity of its installation and management. A full list of b2evolution features can be found here.

Make sure your host supports b2evolution! This step only applies only if you don't have a NEXCESS.NET hosting plan - all of our shared and reseller plans support b2evolution. If you're not a NEXCESS.NET client, then you can check the minimum requirements for b2evolution and ensure that your hosting service qualifies.

For the sake of this tutorial we'll assume that you own the domain 'johnsmith.com' and are setting up b2evolution at http://johnsmith.com/b2evo/

• Create a database and database user for b2evolution to use
  The first thing to do is to run through the SiteWorx MySQL tutorial and create a MySQL username and database for b2evolution to use to store the information it needs. For the purpose this tutorial we'll use b2_usr as the b2evolution database user and b2evolution_db as the b2evolution database.
• Upload the software to your hosting account
  
  You could also extract the files on your local computer and upload all of them to your hosting account if you can't get SSH access
  Go to the b2evolution download page and download the ".zip" version of the software, then upload the zip file to your hosting account home directory. You should do this using an FTP program like FileZilla. If you need help with FTPing files, you can check out our FTP tutorials.
• Set up the b2evolution files on your hosting account
  Once completed open an SSH session to your website. If you do not have SSH access or are not familiar with SSH please visit our SSH tutorial page. Upon opening a new SSH session you should automatically directed to your home directory were the b2evolution zip file is located. Decide what directory you want to install b2evolution in - if you want to install it in your home directory, continue on to the next step, otherwise simply move the zipfile to the directory you wish to use for b2evolution. For the purpose of this tutorial we are going to assume you are installing b2evolution in a folder named b2evo. Run the following command: unzip b2evolution-2.4.1-stable-2008-03-16.zip This command will extract the files from the zip archive. Now we need to move the b2evolution files from recently extracted directory to the b2evolution directory we are going to use. To do so simply type mv b2evolution* public_html/b2evo/ This command will move the contents of b2evolution/ and place them in b2evo/. Before you move on you will need to change the permissions on the _basic_config.php located in b2evo/blogs/conf. To do this simply navigate to the directory were you placed the b2enolution files and type the following command at the command line: chmod 666 /blogs/conf/_basic_config.php
• b2evolution online configuration
  Open a new browser window, navigate to http://johnsmith.com/b2evo, replacing johnsmith.com with your domain name of course. You should now see the b2evolution online configuration. Click on the link labeled "Installer" you should be forwarded to the base configuration page
  
  Use the online configuration system to set up the database connection
  Replace the default data in the fields with your MySQL info - the username, password and database name you set up in step #1. Then click the button labeled "Update config file" You will be forwarded to a page were the installer asks you what type of installation this is. select the appropriate config, the click the button labeled "GO!" The installer will now create all the database tables needed for your installation. Once it's done the b2evolution installer will forward you to a page were you will see the following, Please note your log in info at the bottom of the page. Click on the link labeled "log in" and log in!
• Final installation steps
  On your freshly installed b2evolution blog admin page there are still a couple of things you should do to optimize and secure b2evolution. In the /blogs folder there is a file called sample.htaccess. You should try renaming this to .htaccess This will optimize the way b2evolution is handled by the Apache web server.

Remember, all of our shared and reseller hosting plans are fully managed, so if you have any problems, feel free to get in touch with our support team.

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