Installing your forum software with Softaculous

Before you start

You need three things:

• A Traxio hosting account with your domain added. The free 30-day account is the full account, so everything here works during the trial.
• Your DirectAdmin login, from your welcome email or the client area.
• A decision on the software. Not sure? The two-minute quiz helps, and during the trial you can install a second one to compare.

Your plan includes one database, which is what one forum needs. A second forum on the same account needs another database (£0.99, once).

Open Softaculous

1. Log in to DirectAdmin.
2. Find Softaculous Auto Installer, in the Extra Features area.
3. In Softaculous, open the Forums category and choose MyBB, phpBB or SMF.
4. Press Install. The page that opens is the whole installer.

The exact layout of Softaculous changes a little between versions, so if a label differs slightly from this guide, look for the field that asks the same question.

The fields, and what to put in them

Where to install

• Protocol: choose https://. Your free SSL certificate covers it, and nobody should log in to a forum over an insecure connection. If your domain isn’t pointing here yet, still choose https://; the certificate is issued once DNS catches up.
• Domain: your forum’s domain or subdomain.
• Directory: leave it empty to put the forum at the root (yourforum.com). Softaculous often pre-fills something like forum or phpbb; delete it unless you actually want yourforum.com/forum. See root, subdomain or folder.

Site settings

• Forum name: what appears in the header and emails. You can change it later.
• Description: one sentence about what the forum is for. Some software uses it in search results.

Admin account

• Admin username: don’t use admin. It’s the first name bots try. Use your own name or handle.
• Admin password: long and unique, stored in a password manager. This account can do anything to your forum. Securing admin accounts has more.
• Admin email: an address you read. Password resets and moderation reports go there.

Advanced options

Softaculous usually offers a few extras here. The sensible choices for most people:

• Database name: leave the suggestion.
• Automatic upgrades: if offered, choose to upgrade minor versions automatically. Security releases then arrive without you remembering, while major upgrades wait for you. Keeping forum software updated explains why.
• Automated backups: if offered, switch them on; they count towards your 3GB, so keep a small number. They supplement, not replace, your own backups.

Then press Install and wait for the confirmation. It shows two links: the forum itself and its admin area.

Finding your admin area afterwards

All three ask you to enter your password again before opening the admin area. That’s normal and deliberate.

The first ten minutes after installing

1. Check the address bar shows https:// and a padlock. If not, see forcing HTTPS.
2. Test forum email. Register a second account using an email address at a different provider. If the confirmation doesn’t arrive, fix that now: create a mailbox on your domain, set it as the forum’s outgoing address, and check SPF and DKIM.
3. Switch on registration protection before anyone else can sign up: email verification and anti-spam questions. Preventing forum spam.
4. Delete the default board (or rename it) and create your own three or four. Boards and permissions.
5. Take a first backup so you have a clean starting point. Backing up your forum.

If something goes wrong

• “Site can’t be reached”: usually DNS hasn’t caught up. Check your domain is pointing here.
• A security warning in the browser: the SSL certificate is issued after DNS resolves. Give it a little longer, then see free SSL certificates.
• The forum is at yourforum.com/forum and you wanted the root: the directory field wasn’t empty. Remove the installation in Softaculous and install again with it blank. It only takes five minutes when the forum is new.
• Anything about the hosting itself: the knowledgebase first, then the help desk. Traxio supports the hosting; for questions about using the forum software, each project has an active community (links in the getting-started guides).