Installation
 

This section describes how the average server installation should proceed step by step. In order for phpchess to work the following tools should be available:

Server
• PHP Version 4.2.2 or higher.
• MYSQL 3.23.56 or higher.
• GD image manipulation library, version 2 or greater.


Browsers
The following browsers have been confirmed to work with phpChess:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer version 4 or higher.
• Firefox version 1.0.0 or higher.
• Netscape Navigator 7 or higher.

Note: There maybe other browsers that will work, but this depends on the current phpChess skin. The following tools were used:

Host: Bargain-Host (http://www.baragainhost.co.uk) Standard Package
Ftp: FtpNavigator (http://www.internet-soft.com)

The pictures shown are for illustration purposes only. Software packages may vary, and functionality naming may vary from tool to tool. We are aware that there is always room for improving installation process documentation, and are looking forward to your constructive critique.

Let's get started:

1) Assuming you have got a web hosting provider (if you are unsure at this stage, it might be better for phpChess.net to offer you a hosting package, then we will do the installation for you :) you should check if you have the tools to do the job. Make sure your host supports sql database, and that you have the right and access to create a new one. You should also have file level access to the server, so that you can copy your files accross. For the purpose of this document our ftp tool will be FTPNavigator, but there are many tools out there that do the job for free. We suggest however a tool that supports full folder creation, and File attribute setting. Please also make sure that you have the right to run php-scripts on your server (that is currently a standard feature, but you never know with some hosting partners).

phpChess is available in 3 different versions, and depending on which one you downloaded you will have one of the following files downloaded:

- phpchess_ce.zip
- phpchess_pro.zip
- phpchess_pro_plus.zip

You now have to extract the content of the downloaded file onto a location on your computers hard-disk (for example C:\phpChess). You can use a tool like winzip (http://www.winzip.com) to get the installation files out of the downloaded file archive (zip file, see list above).

2) Once you are sure that everything above is fulfilled you can create a folder on your hosting server under the webspace. Please make sure that:

a) The directory is accessible from the web (not under root, but in the html sapce)
b) the you have no special characters in the folder name (phpchess is best)

Now you are ready to copy all the files in the install directory on your harddisk to the new folder on your server.

The directories should now look identical (as above). Sometimes errors in the transmission may create corrupted files. Please pay particular attention to the file length, which should be identical to the last bit! A bit of care here, can save a lot of trouble later.

3) Once all files are copied over correctly it is time to ensure that the directories and files can take configuration information. For that you have to change the file and folder attributes for a couple of files. If you are wondering what file attributes are for the internet here a little background:

File Properties (also referred to as cmod states of chmod elements) determine what a user can and can't do with a file. There are 3 types of users (owner, Group and Public) Each group can be limited in regards to Reading, Changing and executing a file. This leads to a 3*3 Matrix, which when filled in leads to a number. This number is the file attribute (sometimes also displayed as rwxrwxrwx for read, write, execute for each user type. A preceding d is added if the attribute is for a drirectory). Please see the matrix below

The following files have to have their attribute changed to 777 (rwxrwxrwx):

• avatars (directory)
• bin (directory)
• bin/ CAdmin.php (file)
• bin/ CChess.php (file)
• bin/ CR3DCQuery.php (file)

Note: if you have the phpChess version that has the Mobile Chess package you will need to set the file attribute for the following directory also to 777:

• mobile_chess/config (directory)

4) Assuming that everything has gone well so far it is time to prepare the database. We suggest that you use mySQL since it is free,  and is provided and already installed by most hosts. If not, then it is time to switch. If you are running your own server, then you know what to do:)

We start of by creating a new database. Depending on your host you can either do this yourself using the mySQL admin console, or you request it from your host. Again please choose a sensible name (eg phpchess) avoiding any special characters (a-z is best). The following screenshot shows how a sample host provides the service:

In the above screenshot you can see that we are creating a database called phpchessdb, and an admininstrative user for the database with the name "phpchess_user", and the user's password "password". We hope you will choose a different password and user name for security reasons.

Once the database and user account have been created successfully, you can move on to the next step.

5) The actual installation is achieved by going to a page on your website. assuming you have installed the chess server on "http://www.phpchess.net" under the directory "phpchess" then the following directory would hold your installation web-page "http://www.phpchess.net/phpchess/install/". Generically speaking the URL is made up  from http://<yourdomain>/<chess_server_directory>/install/. You should now see the following screen, but with mostly empty fields:

You now fill in the empty field with the relevant information. Getting this wrong will lead to errors, or non execution of the script, so please make sure that you are entering the right values. Please note that the "Admin information" section defines the user and password of your administrative user for your phpChess server, and is in no way related to your hosting account, or the database user. It is sensible here to choose a different user and password altogether.

The "Registration" area is only available in the professional and professional plus edition of phpChess.

We can't really help you here much more. If in doubt, visit the forum, ask for support from support@phpchess.net (for registered users only, so please include your product key and user information) or let us host your chess server for you (mail us at sales@phpchess.net for more information)

After pressing [install command center] you should see the following screen:

6) The final step is to clean up. This step is vital for security purposes and should not be forgotten under any circumstance.

Start off by deleting the <Install> directory on your server.

Then change the file attributes of the following files to 644 (rw-r--r--):

• bin/ CAdmin.php
• bin/ CChess.php
• bin/ CR3DCQuery.php

Please also change the following directory attributes to 755

• bin
• mobile (if you own phpChess Professional Plus)

This should leave your /bin/ directory looking much like this (file size may vary depending on version).

You are now ready to run your chess server. The next step is setting up the server policies. Please refer to the next chapter for a more detailed look at the admin center options (Server Administartion).

We hope you found the installation painless and wish you all the best with your new phpchess server.