Userguide

LAMP Server running phpBB board
on CentOS 5
User Guide

Pierce Preston

March 23, 2010

University: Cork Institute of Technology
Department: Department of computer science
Module: Internet and Networking Services
Lecturer: Tim Horgan

Abstract

Companies are increasingly looking at new features of the web that they can use to their
advantage. Web 2.0 provides many advantages for them over Web 1.0. It allows for an
interactive web experience.
The documentation for this project will be in three parts. The ﬁrst, and most detailed
will be this report. The second will be in the form of a blog, whose address shall be
available in the appendix at the end of this document. The third, and ﬁnal document will
be a web published presentation, whose address will also be available at the end of this
document.
This report will act as a guide for those wishing to set up a phpBB3 forum.

0.0 CONTENTS User Guide

Contents

1 Introduction 2
1.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

I Guide 4
2 Installation and Set-up 5
2.1 Linux - CentOS 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1.1 Installation (Skipping VMWare set-up) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2 Apache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.2.1 Installation and Set-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.3 MySQL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.4 PHP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.4.1 Installation and Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.5 Updating Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.5.1 Adding the repository, and updating the software . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.6 phpMyAdmin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.6.1 Downloading and Configuring phpMyAdmin . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.7 vsftpd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.7.1 Installation and Configuration of vsftpd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.8 iptables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.8.1 Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.9 DNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.9.1 Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.10 phpBB3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
2.10.1 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
2.10.2 Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
2.10.2.1 Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
2.10.2.2 Creating and Managing Forums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
2.10.2.3 Create Moderators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

II Appendix 74
.1 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
.2 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

1
LAMP Server + phpBB Pierce Preston

.2.1 Installation for documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
.2.2 DNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
.3 Helpful Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
.4 Web Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
.4.1 External Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
.4.2 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
.4.3 Customisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

1.0 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION User Guide

Chapter 1

Introduction

3

1.1 Overview User Guide

1.1 Overview
The purpose of this project was to set up a LAMP server, and to install and configure a
phpBB forum on top of it. The LAMP server was built on CentOS 5.
In this report, I intend to run through, briefly, how to install all the components of
a LAMP server, then phpBB installation, finishing off with the configuration of phpBB.
This was all run on a VMWare image, so installation of CentOS will be slightly different
(you will have to pay more attention to things such as partitions if you don’t want to
loose data etc), but other than that, everything should be good.

4

1.1 User Guide

Part I

Guide

5

2.1 Linux - CentOS 5 User Guide

Chapter 2

Installation and Set-up

2.1 Linux - CentOS 5
CentOS 5 is a distribution of Linux based on Red Hat enterprise edition. It is meant to
be used as a server environment speciﬁcally, unlike, say Ubuntu or OpenSuse. It comes in
both 32bit and 64bit versions, and is available in both the leading GUI’s (namely, gnome
and KDE).
As previously stated this was set up using VMWare (version no. 7.0.1 build-227600).
CentOS was given 10 gigs of hard drive space, 1 gig of RAM and set up using NAT
network settings. I used the 64 bit version.

2.1.1 Installation (Skipping VMWare set-up)
• You will be asked whether you want to run a media check, to make sure the install
media is not damaged. As I was using an ISO image directly, I skipped this. If you
are using an actual disk, and especially if it has been around a while, you could run
this test to make sure the disk is still OK .

• After a brief system check, you will see a graphical display where you will be able
to read the release notes, or, more to the point, continue.

6


Figure 2.1: Initial Screen.

• After pressing “Next” on the ﬁrst screen, you will be brought to the language selec-
tion screen. Pick the desired language, and press “Next”.

7


Figure 2.2: Language Selection Screen.

• Next will be the keyboard selection screen. Like with the last screen, select the
desired keyboard layout, and press “Next”.

8


Figure 2.3: Keyboard Selection Screen.

• Once you have selected the keyboard layout, you will be shown a screen asking you
if you want to create a new partition on the drive. This is one of points where you
will have to be more careful on an actual disk, as opposed to VMWare. In my case,
as its a virtual disk, its OK to select “Yes”.

9


Figure 2.4: Partition Warning.

• The next step is to select partitions etc. Again. This is more relevant for people
installing on actual disks. I again stuck with defaults. If you know what you’re
doing, and your using an actual disk, work away. Otherwise, ask around if your not
sure.1

• If you chose to stick with the defaults, you will be shown a warning message. Select
“Yes”.

1
You can ﬁnd numerous examples of how to do this on the internet. One
such example is the following thread on the oﬃcial CentOS 5 support forum -
https://www.centos.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic id=25387&forum=37

10


Figure 2.5: Disk Warning Screen.

• The next screen is the network device screen. Again, just press “Next”.

• Following that screen is the location screen. Click on the map displayed and select
the country (and nearest city) that you want.

11


Figure 2.6: Location Selection Screen.

• At this point, you will have to enter a root password. This password should be vary
secure, and you shouldn’t lose it.

12


Figure 2.7: Root Password Screen.

• On this screen, you can chose the GUI you want, and customise the packages you
want to install. Deselect the default (gnome), and then select the “Customize now”
radio button, followed by “Next”.

13


Figure 2.8: GUI Selection Screen.

• Now it is time to choose the packages to be installed. As it is going to be a server,
you will want the minimal of packages installed, so deselect everything, other than
“Base System ->Base”, and click “Next”.

14


Figure 2.9: Package Selection Screen.

• Finally, you will have reached the install screen. Pressing “Next” will start the
installation process (This can take quite a while, depending on system resources).

• Once it has installed, it will ask you to remove any media (if you are installing it
onto an actual machine, using a DVD), and then you can press “Reboot” to reboot
your machine.

• After the system has rebooted, it will present to with the security set up options.
Disable both SELinux and the ﬁrewall. To navigate, us the arrow keys, and to select
an option, press the space bar.

15


Figure 2.10: Security Set up Screen.

• You will then be asked to log in as root, using the password you created during
installation.

16

2.2 Apache User Guide

2.2 Apache
Apache is a free to use, open source server tool. It will run on all major operating systems,
and allow you to run your own websites. According to its website, it has been the biggest
server on the web since April 1996.

2.2.1 Installation and Set-up
• The ﬁrst thing to do is download Apache. This is done using the command

– yum install httpd (Make sure you are root).

Figure 2.11: Install Apache.

17


• This will then start the download process. During this process, you will be asked to
conﬁrm downloads. Just type “y”, and then hit return.

Figure 2.12: Conﬁrm Download.

18


• Once it has been downloaded and installed, you will have to start the service, using
the command:

– service httpd start (NOTE: start can be replaced by stop and restart to stop
and restart the service respectively).

Figure 2.13: Start/Stop/Restart Service.

19


• You can add the service to the list of services that start on start up of server using
the command:

– chkconﬁg httpd on.

Figure 2.14: Add Apache to start up Services.

20


• Apache should now be set up. To conﬁrm, simply direct a web browser to the IP
address of your server, and you should see a conﬁrmation page.

Figure 2.15: Testing Apache.

21

2.3 MySQL User Guide

2.3 MySQL
MySQL is a popular database utility. Its installation is the exact same format as that
used for Apache above, replacing the line

• “yum install httpd”

with

• “yum install mysql”

To start the service, you call mysqld in the service start/stop/restart command.

22

2.4 PHP User Guide

2.4 PHP
Finally for the LAMP acronym, PHP acts as the glue between MySQL and Apache. It
is a server side scripting language. It is generally used along side HTML on websites.
As with Apache and MySQL, it is installed using the yum utility in CentOS. It is not a
service, and therefore does not need to be restarted directly. It should also be noted that
additional modules will have to be downloaded on top the main php install. php-mysql is
one such module, and that can be installed using yum after you have installed the main
php module.

2.4.1 Installation and Configuration
• To install php, as stated above, use the command
– yum install php
• The only major configuration that need to be done on php is to turn on safe mode.
This will add to the over all security of the server.
• To do this, go to the php.ini file that is in the /etc directory, and change the line
– safe mode=Off
• to
– safe mode=On

Figure 2.16: Turn on safe mode.

23

2.4 PHP User Guide

• Of course, you can use any editor you feel comfortable with, but I ﬁnd nano the
easiest to use.

• To test to see if PHP is running correctly, simply create the following php script,
and save it in /var/www/html:
1 <?php
2 phpinfo ( ) ;
3 ?>

• Restart Apache, and if you point a browser at the IP of the server, followed by
index.php, you should see a list of details about the php you are running.

Figure 2.17: Testing PHP.

24

2.5 Updating Tools User Guide

2.5 Updating Tools
CentOS is mainly built to act as a server. As such, it ship’s with mainly stable, older
versions of tools. This is all well and good as long as you don’t need to latest version of
mySQL or PHP, but a lot of services require the latest versions. To counter this, we will
have to add the testing repository (as the name suggests, a repository is the place that
the software is stored on the internet, and from where Linux downloads them). To do this
and to update the software we have installed, you will have to do a number of steps.

2.5.1 Adding the repository, and updating the software
• Change directory to the: /etc/yum.repos.d.

Figure 2.18: Move to /etc/yum.repos.d.

25


• Download the testing repository using wget. This will add the repository to your
list.

Figure 2.19: Add the repository.

26


• To update your software, simply call the new repository, and update as normal.(NOTE:
you will note in the update command you are enabling the testing repository. To
update normally, you use the command “yum update [X]”)

Figure 2.20: Update using the repository.

27


• Again, it will ask for conﬁrmation for downloading. Type y, and hit return.

• Do this for php,mysql and any php modules you downloaded.

28

2.6 phpMyAdmin User Guide

2.6 phpMyAdmin
You will need something to communicate with the MySQL database on the server. php-
MyAdmin is a web tool you can use to connect to and run sql command on that database.
To download and conﬁgure it, the following steps should be run through.

2.6.1 Downloading and Conﬁguring phpMyAdmin
• Change directory to /var/www/html.

Figure 2.21: Move to /var/www/html.

29


• Download phpMyAdmin using wget.

Figure 2.22: Download phpMyAdmin.

30


• Once its been downloaded, unzip the ﬁle.

Figure 2.23: Unzip phpMyAdmin.

31


• To make life easier, rename the ﬁle to phpmyadmin.

Figure 2.24: Rename The ﬁle.

32


• Change directory to phpmyadmin.

• Copy the file config.sample.inc.php to config.inc.php.

Figure 2.25: Copy over file.

33


• Edit the line “$cfg[’Servers’][$i][’auth type’] = cookies;” in conﬁg.inc.php to read
“$cfg[’Servers’][$i][’auth type’] = http;”.

Figure 2.26: Edit the line.

34


• Conﬁgure the root user for phpMyAdmin.

Figure 2.27: Conﬁgure.

35


• Restart the services.

• If it worked, you should be able to log in to your database by going to the IP of the
server , followed by /phpmyadmin.

Figure 2.28: Check to see if it worked.

36

2.7 vsftpd User Guide

2.7 vsftpd
So that you can get files from a client to your server, you will need to install a ftp tool.
One such is vsftd. Once installed, this tool will allow you to connect to the server and
to download and upload files. This will become important later on, when uploading the
files for the forum, and any associated files you need. Installation and configuration are
as follows.

2.7.1 Installation and Configuration of vsftpd
• Download vsftpd as you did php, mysql and Apache.

• Next, you’ll have to edit the config files, found at /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf.

• The following line will have to be changed:

– anonymous enable=YES to anonymous enable=NO.

Figure 2.29: Edit the line anonymous enable=YES.

37


• The following lines will have to be uncommented (i.e. Remove the # at the beginning
of the line):

– ascii upload enable=YES
– ascii download enable=YES
– chroot list enable=YES
– chroot list ﬁle=/etc/vsftpd/chroot list
– ls recurse enable=YES

Figure 2.30: Uncomment lines.

38


• The following lines will have to be added to the end of the ﬁle:

– chroot local user=YES
– local root=public html
– use localtime=YES

Figure 2.31: Add Lines.

39


• Save and exit the ﬁle.

• Now is probably the best time to make a new user on the server. This will then be
used to connect to the server from a client. The commands to make a new user are
:

– useradd [insert user name here]
– passwd [insert user name here]

Figure 2.32: Add a user.

40


• You can then add that user to the list of accepted users for vsftpd by adding them
to the ﬁle found at /etc/vsftpd/chroot list.

• This is done using the following command

– nano /etc/vsftpd/chroot list

• Restart the vsftd service, and you should be able to connect to the server using any
ftp client you like (ﬁlezila, gftp etc)

41

2.8 iptables User Guide

2.8 iptables
Now that you have the forum up and running, its time to set up some security. iptables
is a standard linux firewall. It uses rules to allow or deny traffic coming to and from the
machine. These rules are held in “chains”. These chains are held in tables. The pre built
tables are the filter table, nat table and mangle table. The filter table is the default table
and is responsible for traffic destined to or from the host are mainly dealt with. A packet
will go to a certain chain depending on its origin, traverse that chain until it reaches a
rule it meets, and act according to that rule. If it meets no rule, then the chain will
have a specified default action, which the packet will do. Packets can either be accepted,
dropped, logged rejected, or else they can be amended slightly (their source or destination
IP can be changed) and then sent on.
iptables is an evolution of netfilter, which shipped with older linux kernels.
IPTables will be already installed on your machine, you you need only configure it.

2.8.1 Configuration
• As stated above, IPTables uses rules. Rules use the following syntax:

– iptables [command switch] [chain] [matching criteria] [action].
– For example: iptables -A OUTPUT -p icmp –icmp-type echo-request
-J ACCEPT
– The above command will add this rule to the end of the OUTPUT chain, and
will allow echo requests be sent by that machine.

• To view all current rules, use the command

– iptables -L

42


Figure 2.33: View existing rules.

• For this server, I simply set iptables up to reject icmp messages with a network
unreachable reply. The command is as follows:

– iptables -A INPUT -p icmp -j REQUEST –reject-with icmp-net-
unreachable

43


Figure 2.34: Add icmp ﬁlter.

• Recheck iptables, to make sure the rule added correctly.

Figure 2.35: Check that rule added.

44


• Attempting to ping the server should now return ”destination host unreachable
messages.

Figure 2.36: Destination host unreachable.

• This is be no means the end of the line for security. In reality, all traffic should
be blocked other than http traffic going to the forum, and the ability to upload
the users avatar. I left the security at just blocking icmp messages as I felt it was
sufficient for introducing a level of security onto the server, without going overboard.

• It should also be noted that iptables can be used to block the IP address of any user
deemed to be spamming the forum etc. To do this, just use the command:

– iptables -A INPUT -s [IP address to be blocked] -i [interface used by
the hosting machine] -d [hosts IP address] -j DROP

• Alternatively, you could change the default action of the INPUT chain to DROP,
and and a rule to allow HTTP traffic (port 80) from anywhere. The commands are
as follows:

– iptables -P INPUT DROP
– iptables -A INPUT -s any -p tcp –dport 80 -j ACCEPT

• Furthermore, you can add your own chain, which you can use to control packets
that are used in situations where a hacker might be trying to find out about your
system. The commands are as follows:

45


– iptables -A INPUT -p –tcp-flags ALL FIN,URG,PSH -j flagschain
– iptables -A INPUT -p –tcp-flags ALL ALL -j flagschain
– iptables -A INPUT -p –tcp-flags ALL SYN,RST,ACK,FIN,URG -j
flagschain
– iptables -A INPUT -p –tcp-flags ALL NONE -j flagschain
– iptables -A INPUT -p –tcp-flags SYN,RST SYN,RST -j flagschain
– iptables -A INPUT -p –tcp-flags SYN,FIN SYN,FIN -j flagschain
– The above rules look for odd tcp packets (ones that wouldn’t be sent in genuine
traffic), and and send them to the user created chain, flagschain.
– iptables -N flagschain
– iptables -A flagschain -m limit –limit 15/minute -j lOG –log-prefix
Suspicious-flags
– iptables -A flagschain -j DROP
– The user created chain then logs a packet every 15 minutes (if there are any,
of course), with the title of Suspicious-flags in the log, and drops each packet.

46

2.9 DNS User Guide

2.9 DNS
DNS, or dynamic name system, allows you to change from using IP address to access your
server to “real” web address. (www.example.com). To do this, you can use BIND. BIND
is already installed on CentOS 5. BIND uses a number of files to sort out where address
are, in terms of IP addresses. The files that are used are:

named.conf: This file contains the zones that you use and rules associated with them.

named.root: This file is maintained by internic.net, and changes infrequently.

zone.localhost: This file is configured to tell named that localhost is 127.0.0.1.

revp.127.0.0: This file tells named that the host name associated with the IP address
127.0.0.1 is localhost.

zone.[web address :] This file gives further details on the break down of your hosts
names and functions in the network (stating which one is the name server etc).

revp.[first three three digit numbers of your subnet IP address :] This file con-
tains reverse pointers between hosts and their IP addresses.

• The first thing to do is to create names.conf in the /etc directory.

• Into named.conf goes the information required to tell named.conf what network it
is authoritative for, its configuration files, and how to find information on the hosts
in its network.

47

2.9 DNS User Guide

Figure 2.37: named.conf.

• To get named.root, I went to ftp://ftp.internic.net/domain/named.root, copied over
the text and saved it to a file named named.root.

• Using an ftp client, I then transferred the file from my client to the server, and
moved it to the /var/named directory.

• In zone.localhost, various options concerning the length of time for holding the in-
formation in a cache for 127.0.0.1 is entered. This file is then moved to /var/named.

48

2.9 DNS User Guide

Figure 2.38: zone.localhost.

• revp.127.0.0 holds similar information for relating 127.0.0.1 to localhost. Again, this
ﬁle is stored in /var/named.

Figure 2.39: revp.127.0.0.

49

2.9 DNS User Guide

• The revp.[subnet] file contains the details linking hosts to IP address on the subnet.
As with all other files, it goes to /var/named.

Figure 2.40: Subnet file.

50

2.9 DNS User Guide

• Finally, the zone file is created for your web address, and its information is entered
in the final zone file. This is also sent to /var/named.

Figure 2.41: Final zone. file.

51

2.10 phpBB3 User Guide

2.10 phpBB3
phpBB is an internationally used tool for creating and running your own web forum. It is
highly customisable. You can use to to create and manage forum user and groups, change
the style of your forum, and create and manage different sub forums.

2.10.1 Installation
• Download the .zip file containing the install files for phpBB from the phpBB website
onto your client.

• Using an ftp client, log into your server using the user name and password that you
made earlier, and copy across the .zip phpBB3 file over to the server.

• Log in to the server, and move the .zip file to /var/www/html

Figure 2.42: Move the .zip file to the Apache directory.

52


• Move to /var/www/html.

• Unzip the .zip file using the following command:

– unzip phpBB3-[version-number].zip.

Figure 2.43: Unzip the file.

• Move into the phpBB3 directory.

• Change permissions for various files/folders using the following commands:

– chmod 666 config.php.
– chmod 777 store/.
– chmod 777 cache/.
– chmod 777 files/.
– chmod 777 images/avatars/upload/.

53


Figure 2.44: Change permissions on the conﬁg.php ﬁle.

Figure 2.45: Change permissions on various directories.

• You are now able to start installing phpBB3.

• To do this, go back to your client, and in a browser, navigate to http://[IP address
of server]/phpBB3/install.

54


Figure 2.46: Navigate to the install page.

55


• Click install, and follow the various pages provided.

• The ﬁrst page will test to see if you have all the required modules. (NOTE: Just
because you failed a test in this does not necessarily mean you can’t install. For
example, you will only pass for one database type etc)

Figure 2.47: PHP Test.

56


Figure 2.48: Database Test.

57


Figure 2.49: Option Modules Test.

58


• The next step is to link the forum to the database.

• Log into phpMyAdmin, which you should have set up and installed earlier, and
create a new database, called phpbb3 for example.

• Back in the phpBB3 installation, simply ﬁll in the database form, using “localhost”
as the server name, the phpMyAdmin login and password for database user name
and password, and put in whatever name you gave to the database.

Figure 2.50: Fill in the Database Form.

59


• Continue through the installation pages ﬁlling in the administrator details page, and
leaving all settings as default in the forum conﬁguration page.

• At the end of this process, you will be logged into the administrator control panel,
and you will have successfully created the forum

Figure 2.51: Administrator Control Panel.

60


2.10.2.1 Templates
• There are a few sites where phpBB3 skins can be found. Some are mentioned below
in the references section. For this guide, I will assume you have found the skin you
wish to use.

• Once you have downloaded the skin, you will need to send it across to the server. You
can do this by using an ftp client, and moving the ﬁle into the /styles subdirectory
in the /phpBB directory.

Figure 2.52: Move the .zip ﬁle.

61


• It is most likely that the skin is in .zip format, so you will need to unzip it using
the command:

– unzip [ﬁlename]

Figure 2.53: Unzip the ﬁle.

62


• You can now delete the .zip ﬁle.

• Log into the administrator control panel of your forum, and go to styles.

Figure 2.54: The “Style Tab”.

63


• In the list of styles, you will now see the new one you just added, though it will not
be installed yet.

Figure 2.55: The list of styles.

64


• To install it, simply click install.

• Once you have select install, you will be provided with a short selection of options,
namely,do you wish to make the skin active, and do you wish to make it default.
Leave active as yes, and if you want to make the new skin the default skin for users,
select yes here also, and then press “Submit”.

• You will be informed of the success, and you will be able to continue conﬁguring
your forum.

2.10.2.2 Creating and Managing Forums
• Now that you have given your board the skin you want, you can start creating and
managing forums and their permissions.

• To create a new forum, in the administrator control panel, go to the “Forums” tab.

Figure 2.56: The “Forums” tab.

65


• By default, there will be a forum already on your board. To edit it and its sub
forums, click on the green cog image to the right of it.

• You will then be able to change the name of the forum, along with any other settings
you would like.

Figure 2.57: Fill in the required details.

66


• Once you have submitted the changes, you are then allowed to change the permis-
sions of the forum. For this one, we will allow everyone to see and write in it, so we
will just press back to previous page.

• We will now create a forum that is only viewable by site administrators.

• Still in the “Forums” tab, enter the name of the administrators forum in the box
provided, and click on the “Create new forum” button.


67


• Fill in the details, and press “Submit”.


68


• This time, go to the permissions page.


69


• Select all the groups provided in the box, and press “Add permissions”.

• This will bring you to another page, where you will be able to select the permissions
for the forum depending on the group.

• Allow the Administrator group to have “Full Access”, and give every other group
“No Access”.


70


• To set these permissions, click “Apply all permissions”.

• You will again be presented with a screen telling you that permissions were success-
fully granted.

• Don’t forget, if you create a group later on, you will need to set the permissions for
them as well, so that they have the correct permissions for all forums.

2.10.2.3 Create Moderators
• If you would like to promote a board member to the status of moderator (or an
administrator for that matter), you simply have to go to the “Users and Groups”
tab.

Figure 2.62: The “User and Groups” tab.

71


• From there, select the “Manage Groups” option, and select the group you wish to
add the user to.

Figure 2.63: “Manage Groups”.

72


• Add the users name to the user name box, and press “Submit”.

Figure 2.64: Add the user to the group.

73


• The user will then be added to the group.

These are but a few of the many customisations that you can perform to your board and
its users using phpBB3.

74

2.10 User Guide

Part II

Appendix

75

.2 Problems User Guide

.1 Conclusions
At the end of the project, I had a working forum, with users of differing levels of permis-
sions to show the degrees of security that is available in phpBB3 itself. I also changed the
look of the board, installing a number of different skins. Finally, I created a few different
forums, again with differing permissions.
Unfortunately, I was unable to get DNS working for the server.
On a wider look at things, because of this assignment, I introduced a phpBB3 forum
into my final year project. That was made easier by the experience developed doing this
assignment.
The set up and installation for this documentation took and disproportional length of
time, due to a number of errors. This set me back slightly. I also left the DNS to the last
minute. Both of these factors hampered the overall development of the project and its
associated documentation.

.2 Problems
Below are some of the major problems that I encountered while working on this project,
and its associated documentation.

.2.1 Installation for documentation
Whereas the first time I installed this at home, it went smoothly, when i tried to repeat
the process for this guide, I kept getting errors. mysqld would not add to /etc/init.d for
example, so I couldn’t start the service. After about 6 or 7 VMWare installations, with
varying different solutions attempted (adding the testing repository first time around, and
installing them directly from that for example), I eventually downloaded the live-CD, and
used that for setting up and configuring phpBB3 for this guide.

.2.2 DNS
When trying to set up DNS to work, I was unable to get it to operate correctly. Due to
the fact that it was at the end of the overall project time line, I did not have sufficient
time available to troubleshoot the error and fix it.

76

.3 Helpful Commands User Guide

.3 Helpful Commands
Below are some helpful commands that were not mentioned directly above (they may have
been included in various screen shots, but may be of use:

cd: Allows you to change directory. Syntax -

• cd [path to where you want to go]

rm: Allows you to delete files (-r is used to delete directories). Syntax -

• rm [optional -r] file/directory name

mv: Allows you to copy a file to another folder, and also to rename the file if you “move”
it to the same location. Syntax (for renaming) -

• cp [old file name] [new file name]

find: Allows you to search for files on your drive. Syntax -

• find / -name [name of file to be found]

yum search: Allows you to search the yum repositories for a tool or modules. Syntax -

• yum search [search word]

hostname: Allows you to see the name of the host machine you are on at the moment.
Syntax -

• hostname [optionally you can add a name here, if you wish to change
your hosts name]

77

.4 Web Pages User Guide

.4 Web Pages
Web pages where available as of 21st of March 2010.

.4.1 External Documentation
• Blog - http://ins-phpbb.blogspot.com/

• Presentation - http://www.slideshare.net/PiercePreston/presentation-3508083

.4.2 References
• http://www.vmware.com/

• http://centos.org/

• http://httpd.apache.org/

• http://www.mysql.com/

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MySQL

• http://www.php.net/

• http://www.server-world.info/en/note?os=CentOS 5&p=ftp

• http://www.phpbb.com/

– http://www.phpbb.com/downloads/olympus.php?
– http://www.phpbb.com/support/documents.php?mode=install&version=3

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iptables

• http://www.netﬁlter.org/

• http://www.bind9.net/

• http://www.howtoforge.com/linux bind9 and caching nameserver

• http://madboa.com/geek/soho-bind/

.4.3 Customisation
• http://www.phpbb.com/support/documentation/3.0/adminguide/index.php

• http://www.phpbb.com/styles/db/

• http://www.phpbb3styles.net/

78

Userguide

More Related Content

What's hot (15)

Viewers also liked (9)

Similar to Userguide (20)

Userguide