Friendly Hints for Newbie Installers

Welcome to the UBB.classic™ Community

Congratulations on choosing the UBB.classic™ messageboard software, the most widely distributed Perl-based community software on the planet. These tips will assist you with installations, upgrades, and maintenance.

Where to Get Help

Almost anyone can administer a UBB.classic™ message board, regardless of technical skill or knowledge. However, depending on your past experience and technical expertise, you may require professional or volunteer assistance to install, upgrade, or transfer your community.

If you are unsure of how to follow the installation or upgrade instructions, ask an experienced webmaster to assist you or seek help from Groupee’s Customer Support (see http://ubbcentral.com/support/index.php?product=UBB.classic). Please note that installation assistance from Groupee’s Customer Support may be considered Advanced Support, which is available at the rate of $75 per half hour. When following the installation instructions, if you choose to install this yourself, please make sure that you go step-by-step and read all notes thoroughly before proceeding.

You can order fee-based professional installations, upgrades, and transfers from Groupee via our website at www.ubbcentral.com (go to UBB.classic>>Order>>scroll down to Optional Professional Services).

You may also wish to visit the friendly community of message board administrators in our online support forums (from www.ubbcentral.com click on UBB.classic>>Community, or on UBB.c Forums).

If you’d like to ask a question of our technical staff, you can reach them using our online support ticket system at www.ubbcentral.com (click on Support Center, choose your product, and then your question type). If you would like to suggest improvements to this guidance document, please feel free to make your suggestions via our ticket system as well. We’d love to hear your suggestions.

Please use caution when attempting the more advanced operations, such as transferring your UBB.classic™ community. If you choose to do this yourself, you are stipulating that you have read the instructions and understand them.

Before You Get Started…

Can I Install the UBB.classic™ on My PC?

Not if your PC is running Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition, or Mac OS 9. Newer operating systems can support running a UBB.classic™, but be very careful---an active community can place an unacceptable load on your computer. We recommend that the UBB.classic™ be installed on server hardware that is intended and properly configured to support web software.

What Skill Level Do I Need to Install UBB.classic™ Software?

The UBB.classic™ software is not installed via .exe file, like shrink-wrapped software you might purchase at the store. UBB.classic™ software must be configured to work with your server (reading and writing files dynamically), and therefore, you do need to know some basic techniques to install the Perl scripts, including:

· How to unzip a set of files

· How to upload files from your computer to your web server

· How to change your FTP client from ASCII (or Text) mode to Binary mode

· How to change permissions on files using your FTP client

· How to make minor changes to a file (using Notepad or TextEdit)

What Do I Need to Have Before I Start?

Before you get started with your new installation, you need to know on which type of server you are installing the software. It could be NT, Unix, Linux, Win2K, Mac OSX, or perhaps another type. If you don’t know already, ask your web host on which type of server your web space is hosted. (But hold on…there are a few other questions you might want to ask your web host…see the list below.)

· Does my web host have a CGI FAQ? (If so, please read it before starting the installation)

· What is my path and URL? Your URL might look something like: http://www.yourdomain.com or http://www.webhost.com/~yourname and your path might look something like this: /home/username/public_html/

· What is the location of my CGI directory?

· What is the path to Perl for the server on which I will install the UBB.classic™ software? For most servers, the path to Perl looks like “/usr/bin/perl” or “/usr/local/bin/perl.”

Once you have the information from your web host, print a copy of the specific installation instructions you need (they are separated according to server type). Next, make sure you have the right tools on your own computer. You will need:

· A copy of the UBB.classic™ software zip file downloaded from the Member Area at www.ubbcentral.com.

· Unzipping software such as WinZip (available free from http://www.tucows.com and installed by default on many newer PCs) or Mac Fetch.

· An FTP client such as WS_FTP, LeapFTP, or CuteFTP (Dreamweaver, FrontPage, or GoLive can NOT be used for this purpose). There are free FTP programs available on the web, and some quality software for around $30.00.

· A web browser such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox or Netscape.

Why Are There Two Different Sets of Files to Download in the Member Area?

When you log into the Member Area, you’ll see the current version of UBB.classic™ available in two slightly different files:

Get Latest Version (#!/usr/bin/perl)**
Get Latest Version (#!/usr/local/bin/perl)**

The UBB.classic™ is written in a language called Perl, and in order to run correctly, it needs to know where the Perl language files are located on your server’s system. The way we tell the UBB.classic™ where Perl is located is by placing a special line at the beginning of the main UBB.classic™ file. When you ask your web host for the “path to Perl”, they will give you an answer that probably looks like one of the two lines above. If you download the file that matches your “path to Perl” then you do not have to open the UBB.classic™ files and edit this introduction line.

If it turns out that your web host has Perl installed in a different location than either of the two above, you can download either one of the files and the detailed installation instructions will tell you how to edit the “path to Perl”.

A Few Definitions

What is an FTP program?

FTP stands for “File Transfer Protocol.” Some examples of FTP software include: LeapFTP, CuteFTP, and WS_FTP. Using these programs, you can securely send files from your computer to a location on a remote server. If you’re unfamiliar with FTP, you may wish to ask a webmaster for assistance; he/she probably uses FTP to make changes to your website.

What Do “777” and “755” Permissions Mean?

The UBB.classic™ software, in order to create forum and topic pages, keep track of members, and work correctly, needs to have permission to read, write, and execute certain files on your server. These numbers are the way we tell the server who has permission to do these things to each individual file or folder. The 777 setting means that the Owner, Group, and Others have read, write, and execute permission for that particular file. 755 means that the Owner has read, write, and execute permission, but Group and Others only have read-write access. On a Unix server, you can use your FTP program to change these permissions; however, on an NT or Win2K server, you must ask your web host to change the permissions if you run into trouble during your installation.