IceBB Forum Tutorial and Installation How To

This tutorial will help you install the IceBB forum software on your NEXCESS.NET web hosting account. IceBB is a powerful, feature-rich, fast, and best of all open-source forum solution. IceBB is easily customized and features full skin and mult-language support. Easy-to-use moderation and a flexible admin back-end allows your IceBB forum to be easily managed.

Make sure your host supports IceBB! All NEXCESS.NET shared and reseller hosting accounts fully support IceBB, but not all hosts will support IceBB on their hosting accounts. Check with your web hosting provider if you're not sure.

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

1. Create a database and user for IceBB to use
   IceBB stores its data using a MySQL database, so the first step is to preare one for it to use. Create a database and a user with full access to the database. If you need help doing this, check out our MySQL tutorials or ask us for help. For this tutorial we are going to use db_user as the IceBB database user and IceBB_db as the IceBB database. Make a note of the settings you use.
2. Download the software and put it on your account Go to the IceBB download page and download either the ".zip" or ".tar.gz" version of the software. Now unzip the IceBB archive using Win Zip, WinRar, or 7Zip or a similar program. Create a new text document and name it config.php then upload the files you just unzipped along with the config.php file you just created to the remote directory were you wish to install IceBB. You should do this using an FTP program. In this example, we'll upload the files to the icebb directory in the web root directory of the hosting account. If you need with FTP, you may want to check out our FTP tutorials.
3. Update file permissions
   Before you proceed further you need to change some directory and file permissions. Using your FTP client locate the files then right click on each and change the permissions of the following files to 777:
   • config.php
   • uploads/
   • skins/
4. IceBB online configuration
   Open a new browser window, navigate to http://johnsmith.com/icebb/install.php (in our example - your domain will be different). You should see an IceBB page indicating that it has checked some files for write permissions. To proceed click the "Continue" button to proceed.
   
   IceBB will check that your permissions are correct before proceeding
   The installation script will now ask for the MySQL information you created earlier along with other general information regarding the forum you want to install. Input the proper information in the appropriate places and click the "Install" button.
   
   Enter the general settings for your iceBB forum
   The installation script will now install IceBB and then confirm that IceBB has been successfully installed. Before you proceed further remove install.php and the install directory from the directory you installed iceBB in - also change the permissions of config.php 755.

All done! If you're a NEXCESS.NET hosting client, and you have any problems with your new iceBB forum, please take advantage of our 24/7 in-house support and submit a ticket - we'll get right on it!

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