Installing Sitellite

Tutorials / Administration

Prerequisites

Apache 1.3 or 2.0

The differences between the two versions are that some compiling and configuration options have changed. The one specifically related to Sitellite is that Apache 2 requires a new "AcceptPathInfo" setting set to "On".

The other setting that can affect Sitellite is the "AllowOverride" setting. Usually, we simply recommend it be set to "All", which gives us more options in the .htaccess files used by Sitellite. However, we'll also be looking at the possibility of inlining the .htaccess settings into the main Apache configuration and turning .htaccess off completely, which I've seen improve the performance of Apache by up to 20%.

PHP 4.3

We recommend new sites use PHP 5 wherever possible, because PHP 4 will be officially unsupported by the PHP development team by the end of 2008.  If PHP 4 is your only option, Sitellite runs just fine in PHP 4.3 or greater.

The key to the PHP installation is that it be installed as both an Apache module (ie. mod_php) not as a CGI binary, and also as a command-line utility.  FastCGI is also supported in the latest Sitellite releases.  This last option is the default since 4.3, so we shouldn't have to worry about that.  Usually all we need to do is add the following switch to the "configure" line when compiling PHP:

./configure --with-apxs=/usr/local/apache/bin/apxs

MySQL 3.23 or greater

As of this writing, MySQL 5.0  is the latest stable version of MySQL.  Sitellite works with all versions of MySQL from 3.23 on, however I do recommend keeping up to date with MySQL upgrades for the best performance and security.

Configuring Sitellite

Basic installation

A basic Sitellite installation begins with unzipping the Sitellite tarball into the document root of the web site, and copying its contents, including the .htaccess file (which is often missed), into the document root. 

mysql -p -u root
(enter password)
mysql> create database DBNAME;
mysql> grant all on DBNAME.* to USER@localhost identified by 'PASS';
mysql> flush privileges;
mysql> quit

The Sitellite web installer will create the necessary database tables, however make sure you save your database connection info, which you'll need to provide during the Sitellite installation.

chmod -R 777 cache
chmod -R 777 inc/app/cms/conf/services
chmod -R 777 inc/app/*/conf
chmod -R 777 inc/app/*/data
chmod -R 777 inc/app/*/lang
chmod -R 777 inc/conf
chmod -R 777 inc/data
chmod -R 777 inc/html
chmod -R 777 inc/lang
chmod -R 777 install
chmod -R 777 pix
chmod 777 inc/app/*

After setting the folder permissions, you're now ready to launch the Sitellite Web Installer by pointing your website to "/install/" at your website, for example:

• http://www.example.com/install/

Follow the steps of the installer and enter the database info when requested and you should end up with a fully running copy of Sitellite at the end of it.

The Task Scheduler

Sitellite has a "scheduler" utility that can be used in conjunction with cron, or called manually, to run tasks in Sitellite from the command-line.

cd /PATH/TO/SITELLITE
php -f index scheduler-app

Sitellite Scheduler

Abstract:

    Provides a command-line interface to execute scheduled actions in
    Sitellite.  Relies on Cron, At, or other system schedulers to
    provide the timing capabilities.  This scheduler simply provides
    the entry point, security wrappers for scripts, and error logging
    capabilities.

Usage:

    From the command-line:
    bash$ cd /PATH/TO/SITELLITE; php -f index scheduler-app help

    From a Cron script:
    0 0 * * * cd /PATH/TO/SITELLITE; php -f index scheduler-app all

Options:

    NONE        Prints this help info
    help        Prints this help info
    TASK        Execute the specified task
    all         Execute all of the tasks in succession

Tasks:

    documents
    flushqueue
    googlesitemap
    jabbercheck
    mailcheck
    scanner
    siteinvoice
    sitesearch

Examples:

    Print this help:
    php -f index scheduler-app

    Execute the sitesearch task:
    php -f index scheduler-app sitesearch

    Execute all tasks:
    php -f index scheduler-app all

0 0 * * * cd /PATH/TO/SITE; /usr/bin/php -f index scheduler-app documents
0 1 * * * cd /PATH/TO/SITE; /usr/bin/php -f index scheduler-app flushqueue
0 2 * * * cd /PATH/TO/SITE; /usr/bin/php -f index scheduler-app sitesearch

The Scheduler Log

2008-07-26 19:15:46 (documents) Error: Error message here.