Goal: Set up my first website.

I have never used Drupal.
I'm a total newbie at websites.
Research, I have spent two days searching the internet for the best solutions.
I found WAMP5 - http://www.wampserver.com/en/
At first I did plan to use another CMS, but why not start with the best - Drupal?
And why not give something back, so I decided to start with drupal-5.0-beta1.
I will try to document all difficulties I have installing Drupal.

First I downloaded wamp5_1.6.5.exe
Apache 2.0.59
PHP 5.1.6 + PECL
SQLitemanager
MySQL 5.0.24a
Phpmyadmin
Installed WAMP5 on my OS:Windows XP service pack 2 computer.

Downloaded drupal-5.0-beta1
Extracted it to wamp\www\drupal-5.0-beta1\
What now? I like to read documentations so I know that http://localhost/drupal-5.0-beta1/ should work.
It works! Now it says I need to create a database.
I have no idée what to do = google!
www.lullabot.com/videocast/installing-drupal-4.7
So I have created a database in Phpmyadmin, and I just typed in that information.
It works!

"To begin, create the first account. This account will have full administration rights and will allow you to configure your website."
Times up. Let’s do this!

At Status report
I don’t remember what the error sad exactly – it was that GD Library was not enabled.
Searching google! – After some research I found the solution - at wamp5 (down left) - PHP settings – PHP extensions – php_gd2 – enable

At Status report
Cron maintenance tasks
Used “run cron manually” Will try to set up “cron”? later…

I have familiarized myself with the setup of drupal, it is pretty strait forward. As with all new thins you have to start with an open mind. It did take me some time, but now it feels safe and I will start to set the settings to my preference.

Problem 1 SMTP
I tried do make a new account. It worked but I got this error.

SMTP
”mail() [function.mail]: Failed to connect to mailserver at "smtp.gmail.com" port 25, verify your "SMTP" and "smtp_port" setting in php.ini or use ini_set() in C:\wamp\www\drupal-5.0-beta1\includes\common.inc on line 1731.”

Is the “&quot” stuff suppose to be there?

Find the solution!
php.ini - at wamp5 (down left) – Config files – php.ini
Added at ln 604
SMTP = smtp.gmail.com
smtp_port = 587

The “ini_set()” stuff made me almost go insane, I still have no idée what that is.

Problem 1 SMTP.2

“mail() [function.mail]: SMTP server response: 530 5.7.0 Must issue a STARTTLS command first 28sm636178ugc in C:\wamp\www\drupal-5.0-beta1\includes\common.inc on line 1731.”

“As for as gmail and STARTTLS... that means that gmail is expecting a secure (SSL) connection.”
Ok. What to do? - Let's have a look at google!
Will update when I have the solution.

Comments

joncli’s picture

joncli CreditAttribution: joncli commented

I need SSL so I'm just changing from WAMP5 to XAMPP for Windows 1.5.4a
Apache HTTPD 2.2.3, MySQL 5.0.24a, PHP 5.1.6 + 4.4.4 + PEAR + Switch, MiniPerl 5.8.7, Openssl 0.9.8d, phpMyAdmin 2.9.0.1, XAMPP Control Panel 2.3, Webalizer 2.01-10, Mercury Mail Transport System für Win32 und NetWare Systems v4.01a, FileZilla FTP Server 0.9.18, SQLite 2.8.15, ADODB 4.91, Zend Optimizer 3.0.1, XAMPP Security. For Windows 98, 2000, XP.

joncli’s picture

joncli CreditAttribution: joncli commented

Okej, now it is done.

The cron problem.
"Cron has not run. It appears cron jobs have not been setup on your system. Please check the help pages for configuring cron jobs. You can run cron manually." I ran it manually.

Back to the mail problem. I guess that you think you should already have set up you’re SMTP stuff before installing drupal.

“warning: mail() [function.mail]: Failed to connect to mailserver at "localhost" port 25, verify your "SMTP" and "smtp_port" setting in php.ini or use ini_set() in C:\xampp\xampp\htdocs\drupal-5.0-beta1\includes\common.inc on line 1731.”

Changing php.ini
And in XAMPP there is more then one!
The “right” one is located in \xampp\apache\bin\php.ini

Well installing XAMPP with SSL did not help
warning: mail() [function.mail]: SMTP server response: 530 5.7.0 Must issue a STARTTLS command first m1sm880985uge in C:\xampp\xampp\htdocs\drupal-5.0-beta1\includes\common.inc on line 1731.

oadaeh’s picture

oadaeh CreditAttribution: oadaeh commented

If you haven't seen it, there is a Handbook which goes into installing and setting up an AMP server on Windows here: http://drupal.org/node/263 I don't know if anything there answers your STARTTLS problem, though. The first time I did a WAMP server, I used Apache2Triad, as the others wouldn't work correctly for one reason or another.

joncli’s picture

joncli CreditAttribution: joncli commented

I used the following guide at
http://drupal.org/node/7294

got error Fatal error: Call to undefined function drupal_mail_wrapper() in C:\xampp\xampp\htdocs\drupal-5.0-beta1\includes\common.inc on line 1699

solipsist’s picture

solipsist CreditAttribution: solipsist commented

joncli: If you want to keep things simple initially, get a hosting company account and install Drupal there. You said you know nothing about websites, perhaps it is better then to focus on getting the site working rather than figuring on Apache on Windows.

Once you got Drupal up and running, this short tutorial I wrote may be of help:
http://www.jakob-persson.com/myblog/drupal_for_solid_lifeforms

joncli’s picture

joncli CreditAttribution: joncli commented

I think I know what the problem is! – I need the smtp.module
And I can’t make it work on 5.x... hehe

The problem is that the SSL “stuff” is not working with drupal 5.x
And gmail need SSL so if someone puts the "STARTTLS command" somewhere in drupal and a place where you can put you’re username and password.

Like at Site configuration -> Site information
E-mail address: myemail@whatever.com
Username:
Password:

Then no one would need to get this problem. I have no knowledge of php or any other programming so it would probably take me a lot of time to do that. But if no one does it I will do it! (ETA – 1year)
If someone else like do it faster and think that it can contribute to drupal I will donate $50 to that person for helping the drupal project.

I don’t know if gmail just need the “250 STARTTLS” command or/and authenticate with username and password as well.

Well if the smtp server do not need your username and password, can’t just pretend I’m sending a email from someone I’m not? That can be weird.

For now - I will use another smtp server.

joncli’s picture

joncli CreditAttribution: joncli commented

Thanks for the replies
Just what I needed, there is just so much information out there – hard to filter and find what you need.

solipsist: That might be a good idée.

joncli’s picture

joncli CreditAttribution: joncli commented

It works!
Well my advice to anyone having the SMTP problem is for not to use smtp.gmail.com
Use another SMTP server.

Just change the php.ini file:
[mail function]
; For Win32 only.
SMTP = mySMTP.server.com
smtp_port = 25

; For Win32 only.
;sendmail_from = my@email.com

It first I feel overwhelm by drupal - now I’m starting to like the simple brilliant design.

odoketa’s picture

odoketa CreditAttribution: odoketa commented

I thought this was an excellent idea, simply having a walk through of the installation process, and rather than start a new topic I'm going to just add to the one already posted, which has such an excellent title. If it would be better to have this as a separate thread, please feel free, o moderator, to move me.

I downloaded drupal 5 beta 1 to our development box, running Red Hat Linux enterprise edition. I unzipped/untarred it. Then, because I fear documentation, I went to the index page with my browser. It asked me for a db, so I popped over to mysql and created a db and a user, granting all on the db. I went back to the install page, put in the info, clicked, and viola! I was informed I had a site up.

The new web page has instruction on what to do next. Excellent! So I created a drupal user, which was immediately active. This was quick and painless, and nothing blew up. So far, so good.

Step two took me to the admin section, where I was greeted with a 'One or more problems were detected with your Drupal installation. Check the status report for more information.' Uh oh. So I clicked the status report link.

I like the status report link. GD, MySQL, PHP, Apache all nice and green with check boxes. Cron, of course, is the problem, as it hasn't been set up yet. Fair enough. It might be better to put the cron task on the front page as a step, rather than making it look like there's a problem with the install. I ran cron manually to see if it would run (it did). Oh dear. First problem - once I run cron, the link to 'how to configure cron' went away, and I'm left only with 'run cron manually'. So now I don't know what the job is called, to enter it in crontab. I hunted around for a while before finding it in the online documentation. That should be linked somewhere quite clearly, so that people who do what I did don't then have to wander around in the desert to find the cron instructions.

Hm. Another difficulty/bad behaviour - I can't seem to get back to the pretty interface with the green yellow and red indicators. I'm pretty sure the link I clicked on the front page, 'administration section', used to take me to the simple interface, but now it takes me to a massive administration section. Two complaints about that - one, I wasn't finished with the 'stoplight' section - it was telling me php needed a module. Two, I liked it - I thought it offered a nice overview of the system, telling me what version of all my software drupal thought I was running. I finally found it in the admin section 'status report', but it would have been better if the behaviour hadn't changed - that was confusing.

The php error I was getting is 'Operations on Unicode strings are emulated on a best-effort basis. Install the PHP mbstring extension for improved Unicode support.' I'm not sure why I'm seeing this error - I assume my php isn't configured to do unicode, which I would find odd, as ezpublish hasn't said anything about our unicode support. Is mbstring a fairly standard library? I hope so, because I hate adding random modules to php. Regardless, it seems to be getting by on emulation, so I'll leave it for now.

I'm going to stop here, because I seem to have a working install. Next step will be trying to make it look like something other than a bone-stock install.

Thanks for reading, comments welcome,
David

odoketa’s picture

odoketa CreditAttribution: odoketa commented

Whups - on re-reading I see that I had actually clicked from the admin interface to the status report - perhaps it would be better to place the 'status report' link more prominently in some way.
David

joncli’s picture

joncli CreditAttribution: joncli commented

Well written David.
Nice to see I'm not totally alone here.

Actually I haven’t had any more problems.

Well just one very small issue.
I have added the “block”? Who’s new
And when I changed one of the new user’s names it did not update on that list.
Changed user “knog” to “pelle” have restarted updated everything.

joncli’s picture

joncli CreditAttribution: joncli commented

Ignore my last post...
Now when I ran cron manually - it updated...
(I have the cash function on.)

joncli’s picture

joncli CreditAttribution: joncli commented

One tiny issue, when I woke up this morning and refreshed
http://myip/drupal-5.0-beta1/?q=admin I was still logged in.
And that got me think, what if I was using a public computer, and I did not logout.
Even if I close the browser and opened it again - type in http://myip/drupal-5.0-beta1/?q=admin I’m still logon.
I’m I still logon if the computer crashes? I will test this by manually turning off the power, later today.

So my solution to this small issue is:
1. Under User management -> User settings
Add something that will enable the user to be logout automatically if that user has not used the site for like ~10 min. The admin will set up a customizable time limit – of no communication for the user – and then the user is automatically logout.

2. In My account -> Edit
There can be a checkbox:
•“Remember me next time I visit this site from this computer”
And If I have not clicked in that checkbox I will not be remembered.

Both of the suggestions can be utilized and work together, I believe that this will make drupal more secure.

I hope that someone finds that my infantile drupal experiences are helpful.

joncli’s picture

joncli CreditAttribution: joncli commented

Problem 2.

Okej. I want to be able to restrict access to the forum (access content).
I do not want anonymous user to access the entire forum.
If I make anonymous user able to access content they can view the entire forum, polls, blogs and all the stuff I have on the site.
I still want them to acces some stuff but I want to be able to restrict that access.

Even if I remove anonymous user access to the 'Navigation' block, so they just can se “User login” block - and the front page. They can still access my entire site by just typing in http://my/drupal-5.0-beta1/?q=poll ,forum, whatever.

Possible solution – have tried a lot of things.
First I tried to duplicate the forum module; I could not make it work.
Then I tried to add a new block “Public” and tried to add menus to the Public block; I could not make it work. I was not able to see the menus.

I can’t make the new menu correlate to the new block.
I have one block called Public and one (like Navigation) called Public but I do not think they are connected. Even if I made this work, still anonymous user can access my whole site. I need to add a new way to restrict access to the node module.

Right now I feel a bit lost.

sime’s picture

sime
any/any
Location Melbourne
CreditAttribution: sime commented

Heya

The cache expiry can be manually overridden in settings.php.

For most sites I do I see it as a users responsibility to log out. For sites where this is a particular problem, we change the setting.

For those sites that want to value-add by offering users this setting, they could do it quite easily (I believe) with some custom code.

HTH
.s

joncli’s picture

joncli CreditAttribution: joncli commented

Thanks sime

I guess I have to learn about the ini_set() stuff, in the settings.php file.
Maybe I can use the .htacces file to?

joncli’s picture

joncli CreditAttribution: joncli commented
Assigned: joncli » Unassigned
Status: Active » Postponed

I will try drupal 4.7 now...

Michelle’s picture

Michelle
she/her
Primary language English
Location Wisconsin, USA
CreditAttribution: Michelle commented

Add something that will enable the user to be logout automatically if that user has not used the site for like ~10 min.

It's a good idea to familiarize yourself with the available contributed modules.

http://drupal.org/project/autologout

Interesting thread,

Michelle

oadaeh’s picture

oadaeh CreditAttribution: oadaeh commented

For comment #13, you might check out the LoginToboggan contrib module. It has not yet been ported to 5.0, but it might address those log in issues you have.

For comment #14, there are two possible answers. First, in case you haven't seen it, you can control, to some degree, who has access to what in the User management administration area know as Access control (admin/user/access). Second, there are contrib modules, like Taxonomy Access Control, that give you more fine-grained control over who has access to what. As with LoginToboggan above, however, none of them have yet to be ported to 5.0.

pwolanin’s picture

pwolanin CreditAttribution: pwolanin commented

For #13, you can also change the settings.php file (and/or php.ini) to set session cookie lifetime to 0. This way, if you quit the browser, you will be logged out.

http://drupal.org/node/41754
http://drupal.org/node/23191#comment-40746

joncli’s picture

joncli CreditAttribution: joncli commented

Thank for you’re answers, I see that there is solutions to all the issues I had.

I installed drupal 4.7. I had 1 tiny problem during the installation; I just had to manually add the database in MySQL.

For drupal 4.7 there is a jungle of modules, with is great, but it took me some time to find what I needed. I started with the UIEForum Module – with gave me more access control.

Then I started to install a lot of different modules, I was careful with the dependency stuff. Well after I had installed a lot of new modules my site started to lag. (I wanted to know exactly what the modules did…) I do not have that good computer anyway.

I was familiar with drupal 5 and it was hard not to miss the new features. The new theme is nice! And the overall lock is great. So I decide to go back to drupal 5.

I will use drupal 5 as my main site and install SMF, and just link to it (for now).

joncli’s picture

joncli CreditAttribution: joncli commented
Status: Postponed » Active
oadaeh’s picture

oadaeh CreditAttribution: oadaeh commented

Another thing to keep in mind with 5.0 is that the current release has just turned beta1, and before too long, it will be officially released. During this time, module maintainers will be moving their modules to 5.0, so it's likely that the module you want to use will be ported in the near future. For an idea on the status of the various modules, Michelle created this page: Contrib modules version 5.x status.

joncli’s picture

joncli CreditAttribution: joncli commented

Okej. So I got eveything to work.
I'm using the Organic groups module to limit acces to the forum.

The Organic groups module is working fine, it just that i get errors like this in Organic groups configuration - warning: ksort() expects parameter 1 to be array, null given in C:\xampp\xampp\htdocs\drupal-5.0-beta1\modules\og\og.module on line 2143.

joncli’s picture

joncli CreditAttribution: joncli commented

Mr moshe weitzman fixed the errors I had with OG. I have opened a new issue “I want to change the content of block - Group details”

What is the common Average page generation time for a node with just text?
I get about 250ms, and then I’m the only user on the site right now.

Would I gaining much performance set up a web server with Linux?

One thing I notices in “garland” is that I can’t remove the search box in the top left corner. And if I add the “Search form” block it just adds a new search box, so I have 2 search boxes. Is that by design or is it possibly a bug? Although

My next mission is to set up the cron.php.

joncli’s picture

joncli CreditAttribution: joncli commented
Status: Active » Closed (fixed)

The past week I have been learning adobe Photoshop, so I could make my own site. My site is finally ready.
my site - http://cb.sh.nu/

hansoffate’s picture

hansoffate CreditAttribution: hansoffate commented

How did you get the e-mail working? I am having the same problem you were. I have a gmail account too. What should i do?

jwilson3’s picture

jwilson3
Primary language English
Location Ecuador
CreditAttribution: jwilson3 commented

I'm using perhaps a more mature version (drupal-5.5) and am having the same gmail problems -- localhost "sandbox" on windows xp with wamp5 -- as others over 13 months ago.

From what I've been reading, theres been mention that this is not a drupal problem, which i suppose **might** be the case. I've been searching for solutions and have come across a number of them. Here's a list of a few of the things I've tried thus far:

  • uncomment the line ;extension=php_openssl.dll in php.ini
  • change properties of IIS Admin > Default SMTP to accept relays.
  • change [mail function] area in php.ini
    [mail function]
; For Win32 only.
SMTP = smtp.gmail.com

smtp_port = 587

; For Win32 only.
sendmail_from = myGmailUserName@gmail.com
  • use the Drupal smtp module (to supposedly circumvent using all the stuff in php.ini) and specify smtp server / port / user / password there.

None of these have lead to a solution... ie still getting the typical error message in the Admin Events Log.

Error sending email: 'The following From address failed: myGmailUserName@gmail.com' From: 'myGmailUserName@gmail.com' To: 'myGmailUserName+test@gmail.com'

This error is generated wen running the test email in the smtp module as well as during new user registration confirmation email from the drupal sandbox public account creation page.

will post update here if I find a definitive solution.