b2 Tutorial and Installation How To

This tutorial describes how to use the b2 weblog software with your NEXCESS.NET web hosting account. NEXCESS.NET specializes in hosting b2 software and this tutorial is meant to help you quickly setup your site with our web hosting service.

b2 is open source, meaning that you can use and distribute it as you'd like as long as you don't change it.

For the sake of this tutorial we'll assume that you own the domain 'johnsmith.com' and are setting up b2 at http://johnsmith.com/b2/.

Follow these steps to complete the web hosting tutorial:

1. The first thing to do is to run through the SiteWorx MySQL tutorial and create a database for b2 to use to store the information it needs.

   Create a database called 'b2' with a user named 'b2'. When you do this SiteWorx will prefix the database and user names with some text resembling your domain name.

   With our example domain of 'johnsmith.com' the database name is 'johnsmit_b2' and the username is the same 'johnsmit_b2'.

2. Download the latest version of b2 from the b2 website and unzip the contents of the zip file to your desktop using http://winzip.com.

   You should now have a 'b2' folder containing all the files and folders necessary for installing and running b2.

3. You need to open the b2 'b2config.php' file and change some variables to make b2 run on your web hosting account. Most of the variables in this file can be changed according to your preference. The ones you need to change for sure are as follows:

   • $siteurl = 'http://johnsmith.com/b2';
   • $pathserver = 'http://johnsmith.com/b2';
   • $admin_email = 'johnsmith@johnsmith.com';

   That's it for the top section. Your screen should look like this:

   

   Now you need to scroll down to the MySQL section and enter the values for the database you created in step #1. For this example, we'll enter the following values:

   • $dbname = 'johnsmit_b2';
   • $dbhost = 'localhost'; - Stays the same.
   • $dbusername = 'johnsmit_b2';
   • $dbpassword = 'mypassword';

   Your screen should look like this:

   

   That's it for the b2 'b2config.php' file. You can save and close it.

4. Upload the 'b2' folder to your web hosting account. You can do this using an FTP program. If you don't know how to do this, check out the FTP tutorials on our tutorials page.

5. Once the b2 files and folders are finished uploading, you can now access the 'b2install.php' page. For this example, we'll point to 'http://www.johnsmith.com/b2/b2install.php'. If you receive any errors, make sure you entered the correct information in the MySQL section of the 'b2config.php' file. You should now be on the first page of the install wizard. Your screen should look like this:

   

   The script created some tables in your database and generated a password for your admin account. Make note of this password because it is randomly generated and won't be able to be retrieved if you forget it. Also, make sure you change your password once you login. Click on the login link. You should now be on the login page. Enter 'admin' for the username and the password that the script generated for you. Your screen should look like this:

   

   Click the 'OK' button to login. You should now be on the main page of the b2 admin control panel. From here you can make posts, manage and customize your blog how you see fit. The b2 web hosting tutorial is now complete! Your screen should look like this:

   

   For more information on how to use b2 once it's installed, check out the b2 Readme Page.

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