Expression Engine Tutorial and Installation How To

The following tutorial describes how to install Expression Engine Core with your NEXCESS.NET web hosting account. NEXCESS.NET is Expression Engine friendly. This tutorial is meant to help you quickly setup and configure Expression Engine 1.6.X with our web hosting service.

Expression Engine Core is a flexible, feature-rich content management system that rivals Joomla, Mambo, Drupal and other open source content management systems. Expression Engine is free for personal (non-commercial), or non-profit use only.

Make sure your host supports Expression Engine Core! All NEXCESS.NET shared and reseller plans support Expression Engine Core. If you're not a NEXCESS.NET client, then you can check the minimum requirements for Expression Engine Core on their website.

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

1. Set up a database for Expression Engine to use
   The first thing to do is to run through the SiteWorx MySQL tutorial and create a MySQL username and database for Expression Engine Core to use to store the information it needs. For the purpose of making this tutorial simple, we are going to use eec_usr as the Expression Engine Core database user and eec_db as the Expression Engine Core database.
2. Get the software and upload it to your hosting account
   Go to the Expression Engine download page and download the most recent version of Expression Engine Core. Upload the EECore1.6.2.zip file to the home directory of your site. If you need help with FTPing files, our FTP tutorials may be useful.
3. You can also choose to unpack the zip file on your desktop then transfer the contents to a directory on your site via FTP.
   Extract the software to the desired location
   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. Type the following command to unzip Expression Engine: unzip EECore1.6.2.zip You should see a new unzipped directory called something like EECore1.6.2. For the purpose of this tutorial we will rename this folder to eec. You can either rename the folder or transfer the contents of the EECore1.6.2 folder to the directory you wish to install Expression Engine. To rename the folder type: mv EECore1.6.2 eec Expression Engine's developers recommend that you rename the "system" folder. This is optional, but a recommended step that increases security by keeping the directory containing your ExpressionEngine backend files hidden from public access. To perform this step, simply rename the directory called system. Choose a name that is not easily guessed.
4. Change some file permissions
   For the next step you can either use your SSH session or your FTP client to change the following file permissions: chmod 666 path.php
   chmod 666 system/config.php
   chmod 666 system/config_bak.php Now change the following directory permissions: chmod 777 images/avatars/uploads/
   chmod 777 images/captchas/
   chmod 777 images/member_photos/
   chmod 777 images/pm_attachments/
   chmod 777 images/signature_attachments/
   chmod 777 images/uploads/
   chmod 777 system/cache/
5. Run the online install script
   Point your favorite browser to http://johnsmith.com/eec/, make sure to replace johnsmith.com with your domain and eec/ with the directory you put the Expression Engine files in. You should see the Expression Engine Installation Wizard. Click on the button labeled "Click here to begin" then read and accept the license agreement, then click the "Submit" button. The next step will prompt you for the name of your system folder. If you followed the developers recommendations, go ahead and enter the name you chose. Otherwise keep everything default then click the "Submit" button.
6. Enter your server settings
   The next step titled "Enter Your Settings" will prompt you for server settings, Database Settings, Encryption Settings, Create your admin account, Localization Settings, and finally to select a a template. Keep any server settings default. Enter the MySQL database settings you configured earlier, but keep all other database settings default. Keep the password encryption "SHA1" unless you have a reason to change it. Fill out the fields for the admin account. Select your time zone from the list. Finally, select a template design. Once completed, click the button titled "Click Here to Install Expression Engine!" Using your FTP program or SSH, delete the file called install.php from your server. Leaving it on your server presents a security risk.

You have successfully installed Expression Engine! Do not hesitate to contact support if you have any questions or concerns!

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