Preparing to Install
0 (0 Likes / 0 Dislikes)
Preparing to Install
with Joe Shindelar
This tutorial covers
how to choose a method for
installing the core software
and satisfying prerequisites
for installation.
By the end of this tutorial,
you should be able to choose
and appropriate way
to install the core software
and handle any required
prerequisites.
Before you get started
with this tutorial,
you'll want to make sure that
you understand
the system requirements
that must be met
in order to host a Drupal site.
And if you want to use
Drush to install
the core software, Drush
must be installed already.
The first thing you need to do
is choose a method for
installing the software.
The fastest and easiest option
is to use an online provider
to get a demo installation
of the software.
This method is especially useful
for evaluation purposes.
Check out drupal.org/try-drupal.
Another option is to use
a one-click installer
from your hosting provider.
If you choose to install the
software at your hosting provider,
your hosting provider may have
specific documentation
and or a one-click install
that you can use.
You can check out a list
of hosting providers
that support Drupal on drupal.org.
You can use Drush to install
Drupal via the command line.
You'll need to have Drush installed,
and command line access to the site.
You can use the web installer.
You will need space on a local
or hosted web server
to install the core software manually.
Finally, you could use a
preconfigured environment
or virtual machine that
contains Drupal
and all the required
supporting software
to install Drupal locally.
See the section for your
operating system
under drupal.org's local server
setup guide,
for possible options.
Links with more information
about each option
are included in the written
version of this tutorial.
If you're installing using Drush
or the web installer,
set up a URL and hosting
for your site,
either at an external hosting provider
or on your own computer.
You can verify that the hosting
is working
by putting a simple HTML file
in the web root directory
of the hosting
and visiting the URL for your site.
Additionally, you'll need to create
a database for Drupal to use,
along with the database user
account with full access.
If you don't know how to do this,
consult your hosting provider
or the install.mysql.txt file
that comes with the core software.
In my case, I'm using MAMP
on my local host.
I've got a web accessible directory
with a simple HTML file
and I can confirm it's working.
I've also located my database
credentials
and created a new empty
mySQL database
named user_guide_videos
where I can install the software.
To demonstrate that
my hosting is currently working,
I've created this test.html file
inside of a web accessible directory.
And if I open that URL in my browser
I can confirm that I'm seeing the text
that's inside of the test file.
Great.
If you're installing using Drush,
you can use the download
and site install commands.
First type drush dl,
short for pm-download,
drupal
and we're going to use
the drupal project
rename flag here, so,
--drupal
-project-rename=
and we'll call it docroot.
What this will do is inform Drush
that I would like to have
the files downloaded
into a directory named docroot.
I'll go ahead and run this command.
Once that's completed,
I can confirm that it worked.
I've got my docroot directory
and if I change into that
you can see that it contains
all of the files for Drupal core.
Alternatively, if you're installing
using the web installer,
upload the core software
files manually.
You can do this using
Git and or Composer as well.
See the tutorial on using Composer
and Git to download files.
We're going to do this
by downloading
a zipped archive file from drupal.org.
Start by going to drupal.org
and then click on the
Download & Extend link,
in the top-level menu.
Then click the
Download Drupal button
and then choose whether
you'd like to download
the tar.gz or the .zip file.
In this case I'll download
the .gz file.
Once the file has been downloaded,
I can extract it.
And then move the contents,
the entire directory
into a web accessible directory
in my hosting provider.
And copy that here.
I can then delete the compressed file
from earlier.
I no longer need that.
And I can rename the directory
in my web accessible directory
in my hosting provider
to docroot once again.
With these files in place,
you're now ready to run the installer.
In this tutorial,
we looked at getting things set
up for installing Drupal.
Including reviewing options for
hosting a Drupal site,
making sure that we have a
hosting environment
that works and a database
to use with Drupal,
and then downloading the core files
either directly from drupal.org
or using Drush.
And then placing them into
a web accessible directory.
You're now ready to start
the process
of installing the software.