These instructions are for installing a brand new Drupal website. Most of these steps are applicable for installing Drupal from a development server to your ThetaJoin server.

There are several steps to installing Drupal on your new ThetaJoin server. Essentially, you'll use phpMyAdmin to create the Drupal database, and Drupal user that accesses that database. You'll use the Webmin Filemanager to upload the Drupal source tarball into the webserver directory. Once those steps have been completed, we'll go through the steps to finish the installation, leaving you with a working Drupal website.

Creating the Drupal Database

Login to phpMyAdmin as the root MySQL user, then click on the Databases tab. Enter the name of your Drupal database in the Create new database field, then click the Create button.

 Results of Create new Database:

Creating the Drupal User

Your new Drupal database requires a dedicated Drupal user to access it. DO NOT USE THE MySQL root USER AS YOUR DRUPAL DATABASE USER. The MySQL root user has too many privileges making it a security risk to your Drupal website. We'll use drupaluser as the Drupal username that will have these privileges to access the newly created drupal database. This drupaluser requires the following privileges on the drupal database: SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, CREATE, DROP, INDEX, ALTER privileges.

To add the drupaluser, click on the Privileges Tab, then Add a new user under the User overview section. Enter the following information:

User name: drupaluser

Host: select Local from dropdown list.

Password: DrupalPassw0rd (That's a zero)

In the Global privileges area, Data section, check: SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE. In the Structure section, check: CREATE, ALTER, INDEX, DROP. Click the Go button at the bottom of the page. Your phpMyAdmin Privileges screen should look like:

Verify the drupaluser has been created by clicking on the Privileges Tab. You should see the drupaluser created - it's highlighted in green. Record the drupaluser name, and password, we'll need it later during the Database configuration phase of installation.

Upload Drupal Source

Using the Webmin Filemanager, click the Upload button, and the upload file screen will appear. Upload the latest Drupal tarball from http://drupal.org/ using the Uncompress Zip or TAR file set to Yes.

When the Webmin Filemanager is finished uploading and untarring Drupal source, the Filemanager should look like the resulting image. ThetaJoin webservers are expecting the first Drupal site to be in the drupal directory.

Using a web browser, go to your newly uploaded Drupal website. You should see the following screen to continue the Drupal installation process. To continue, click on the Install Drupal (in English).

Meeting Drupal Requirements

A requirements problem page will be displayed. The directions in the red box need to be followed using the Webmin Filemanager.

Switch tabs to the Webmin Filemanager, copy & paste the ./sites/default/default.settings.php file to ./sites/default/settings.php. First, highlight default.settings.php file, then click the copy button on the toolbar. Click Past on the toolbar again, then enter settings.php in the dialog box. Click the OK button to copy the default.settings.php file to settings.php.

Your ThetaJoin server is already configured to edit the settings.php file as mentioned in Step 2. Click on the Try again link on your Drupal website page. The Database configuration page will display. Enter the Database name (drupal), Database username (drupaluser), and the Database password (DrupalPassw0rd). See the next image. Once everything is correct, click the Save and continue button.

Configure Site

After the database configuration, you'll be brought to the Configure site page. You'll configure Drupal to display your site name, site email address, administrator account information, and other site related information. Take the time to read all the directions on this page, they should be self explanatory. It's recommended to choose another administrator username and password that's different than the MySQL drupaluser and password. The server settings section should configure itself automatically. Be sure to click the Save and continue button.

 Drupal Installed

 Congratulations! Drupal has been installed!!

Drupal is now installed and ready for customization. Even though this is the ThetaJoin Hosting Guide, these directions can be used to install Drupal on just about any Linux platform.