vBulletin Tutorial and Installation How To

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

If you don't currently own a vBulletin license you can get one by visiting the vBulletin site.

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

Follow these steps to complete the tutorial:

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

   Create a database called 'forum' with a user named 'forum'. 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_forum' and the username is the same 'johnsmit_forum'.
2. Download the latest version of vBulletin from the vBulletin website and unzip the contents of the zip file to your desktop using http://winzip.com.

   You should now have a folder which contains all the files and folders you need to install and run vBulletin. Rename the 'upload' folder to 'forum'. Open the 'forum' folder and then the 'includes' folder and you should see a file called 'config.php.new'. Rename this file to 'config.php' and then open the file in your text editor program. In this file we're going to change the values for some of the variables in order to enable the vBulletin script to run on our server. Scroll down to the section 'Database Server Name'. You will be changing the values for these variables to match the information for the database that you created in step #1. In this example, the values will be changed as follows:

   • $servername = 'localhost'; - Stays the same
   • $dbusername = 'johnsmit_forum';
   • $dbpassword = 'mypassword';
   • $dbname = 'johnsmit_forum;
   • $technicalemail = 'johnsmith@johnsmith.com';

   All the other values can stay the same, or you can read through the descriptions and change them how you'd like. Your screen should look like this:

   

3. Once you've changed the values, save the 'config.php' file. Upload the 'forum' folder to your web hosting account. You should do this using an FTP Program. If you need help with FTPing files, you can check out the FTP tutorials on our tutorials page.
4. Now we're going to access the vBulletin 'install.php' file so we can continue installing vBulletin. In this example, we'll point to 'http://www.johnsmith.com/forum/install/install.php'. If you receive any errors, check to make sure you entered the correct information for your database information in the 'config.php' file. You should be at this screen now:

   

   Enter the customer number you use to login to the vBulletin site in the field and click the 'Enter Install System' button to continue. You should breifly see a page that said you entered the number correctly and then get forwarded to this page:

   

   Click the 'Next Step' button to continue.
5. This page just checks to make sure that the 'config.php' file exists and is readable.

   

   Click the 'Next Step' button to continue. This page will attempt to connect to the database. if you receive any errors, make sure you entered the correct information for your database in the 'config.php' file. It will also ask you if you want to empty your database. Since this is a new install the database that you created in step #1 is already empty.

   

   Click the 'Next Step' button to continue.
6. The script will now set up all the tables and should run without any problems. If you receive any errors, make sure you entered the correct information for your database in the 'config.php' file. Your screen should look like this:

   

   Click the 'Next Step' button to continue. The script will now alter your tables to run with vBulletin. This should be step #4 of the installation. Your screen should look like this:

   

   Click the 'Next Step' button to continue. The script will now insert default data into your tables. Your screen should look like this:

   

   Click the 'Next Step' button to continue. You should now be on step #6, about half way through the installation. The script will import the language file.

   

   Click the 'Next Step' button to continue. The script will now import the styles for your vBulletin. You screen should look like this:

   

   Click the 'Next Step' button to continue. The script will now import the admin help.

   

   Click the 'Next Step' button to continue. You should now be on step #9.
7. Give your vBulletin a title and enter a title in the 'Homepage Title' field. Change the 'Webmaster email address' field to match your email address. All the other fields should have the correct info in them and can be left as they are. Your screen should look like this:

   

   Click the 'Proceed' button to continue. The script will now import the default settings. Your screen should look like this:

   

   Click the 'Next Step' button to continue.
8. You should now be on step #11. This page will be used to create an admin account that you'll use to manage your vBulletin. Fill out the fields according to the account you want to create. Your screen should look like this:

   

   Click the 'Proceed' button to continue. The admin account should now be added. Your screen should look like this:

   

   Click the 'Next Step' button to continue. The installation of vBulletin is now complete. Using your FTP program, delete the 'install.php' file from the 'install' folder so no one else can run this script and change the values of your vBulletin. Your screen should look like this:

   

   Once you've deleted the 'install.php' file, click on the 'The control panel can be found here' link to continue.
9. You should now be on the login page. Using the admin account info you created, enter the info in the fields so you can login to your vBulletin. Your page should look like this:

   

   Click the 'Login' button to continue. The script should tell you that you've successfully logged into your vBulletin and then forward you to the control panel. Your screen should look like this:

   

   Your vBulletin installation is now finished and you can set your vBulletin up however you'd like. The vBulletin tutorial is now complete.

   For more information on how to use vBulletin once it's installed, check out the vBulletin Manual.

Back to web hosting tutorials page