Getting started with Drupal administration

This section is an introduction to site administration for new Drupal users. It covers the use of the administrator account and offers suggestions on where to start.

Understanding the administrator account

At the end of the installation process, the person who performed the installation is automatically logged into the site with the administrator account. You may see the administrator account referred to as User 1. This administrative account is automatically given all privileges for managing content and administering the site, so securing the User 1 account is key:

• Don't share this account. Instead, grant users permissions by creating accounts and assigning them to roles.
• Don't name the first account 'admin' or something obvious.
• For maximum security, site administrators might consider ways to limit or eliminate access to the User 1 account altogether.

Where to start

Administrators will generally need to address the following areas in a new site.

Check your site's status

Open the Status report via Menu > Reports > Status report (admin/reports/status) to get an overview of your site's current status. You can check the Drupal version, database version, PHP version, PHP memory limit, web server information, and potential security issues. Items with a red background are issues that need immediate attention. An example would be a required security update for Drupal core or an installed module, or an unprotected settings.php file (see What permissions does Drupal need? for more information). The Status report page also shows when the cron script last ran. This script needs to run regularly for your site to function properly.

Configure your site information

Open the Site information settings via Menu > Configuration > System > Basic site settings (admin/config/system/site-information) to basic settings, such as the site name, slogan, e-mail address or the default front-page path. Enable Slogan under Menu > Structure > Block layout in the "Site branding" block.

Manage users

Open the People page via Menu > People (admin/people) to add new users or manage existing users. You can manage user roles and permissions by clicking on the "Permissions" tab on this page. To change the process by which users apply for accounts, visit the "People and Permissions" page via Menu > Configuration > People > Account settings (admin/config/people/accounts).
Read more about Users, Roles, and Permissions.

Add additional functionality

You can extend Drupal's functionality by enabling modules. The standard Drupal installation comes with a number of modules that are ready to be enabled. In addition, you can download community-contributed ("contrib") modules.
Open the Extend page via Menu > Extend (admin/modules) to administer modules.
Additional modules can be downloaded from the Modules section of Drupal.org.
Read more about installing contributed modules.

Working with Search

The search module lets users search for specific content on your site. You can search both for users and for particular words. When you are on the "content" tab of Search, you will be able to search for words appearing in the default rendering of node content on your site, which would include the default rendering of any CCK fields, Location fields, Taxonomy, etc., as well as comments. When you are on the "users" tab of Search, you will be able to search the user's names of registered users on your site, and if you have sufficient permissions, also their email addresses.
Read more about using Search

Customize the site appearance

Open the Appearance page via Menu > Appearance (admin/appearance) to change the site's appearance by installing new themes or editing theme settings. Drupal by default provides a small number of themes. You can create your own theme or find contributed themes on Drupal.org.
Read more about using Drupal themes.

Manage the site structure

Open the Structure page via Menu > Structure (admin/structure) to change the structure of the site's content types, blocks layout, Menus, Taxonomy, Views, Display modes, and Contact form by managing appropriate changes in the site. Drupal by default provides some structured components of sites.
Read more about using Drupal structure.