Revision as of 18:09, 22 June 2009

Downloading WHMCS

To download WHMCS, login to our client area at www.whmcs.com/members and then do the following:

1. Click the My Products & Services link
2. Select one of your active license keys to view the details
3. Choose the latest stable version to download from the downloads listed at the bottom of the page

Installing Ioncube

WHMCS is encrypted using the Ioncube system. There are therefore two ways to use WHMCS. You can use the runtime decoders or you can install the Ioncube decoders on your server in php.ini. The first way is easy, all you have to do is upload the ioncube folder included in the zip file download to your WHMCS directory. The second is slightly more difficult so here is a tutorial on how to do it.

You WILL require root access to the server in order to do this.

1. Download the latest loaders to your computer from http://www.ioncube.com/loaders.php
2. Extract the contents of the archived file on your local PC to a folder of your choice.
3. Upload the folder IONCUBE via FTP to your domain webspace
4. Now establish an SSH connection with server using a suitable client (e.g. Putty for PC's or Terminal on Mac). This is usually done using the command: SSH rootusername@yourserver.com (you will then be asked for your password).
5. You will need to browse to the public folder where you uploaded the IONCUBE directory (search internet for change and view directory commands in Unix).
6. Move the ioncube folder to a permanent location by entering: mv ioncube /usr/local
7. Next, you need to locate the php.ini file, to do this enter: locate php.ini - You should find it is in /usr/local/lib/php.ini. Now that you know the location of php.ini you need to edit it. pico /usr/local/lib/php.ini
8. Now find where other zend extentions are in the file: ctrl + w: zend_extension
9. Paste in your new line for ioncube loader: zend_extension = /usr/local/ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_x.so (Replace x with your version of PHP eg. 4.4)
10. Save the changes: ctrl + X then Y and enter
11. Restart the web server to take effect: /etc/init.d/httpd restart

That's it! Ioncube is now installed on your server! You should now see a section in your PHP Info page that says:

Additional Modules
Module Name ionCube Loader

Installing WHMCS

Installing WHMCS is very simple. The following steps will guide you through the process:

1. Unzip the contents of the zip file to a folder on your computer
2. Rename the file configuration.php.new to configuration.php
3. Upload the entire whmcs folder to your website - if you experience problems, try uploading in binary mode
4. Next you can rename the folder to whatever you like (billing, clients, etc...)
5. Now visit the installation script at http://www.yourdomain.com/whmcs/install/install.php to run the installer process - if you get an Ioncube related error message, see the installation Ioncube steps above
6. Follow the instructions on screen to install which will involve setting file permissions as listed below, entering your license key and setting up your primary admin account
7. When complete, delete the install folder from your web server and CHMOD the configuration.php file back to 644.

Required file & folders permissions (unless your php is suPHP or PHPSuExec):

/configuration.php          CHMOD 777 Writeable
/attachments                CHMOD 777 Writeable
/downloads                  CHMOD 777 Writeable
/templates_c                CHMOD 777 Writeable

Post Installation Suggested Steps

After installation is completed, we recommend that you go through and configure your new WHMCS system in the following order:

1. Login to the Admin Area and configure your General Settings (Configuration > General Settings)
2. Setup your Payment Gateways (Configuration > Payment Gateways)
3. Setup your Products & Services (Configuration > Products/Services)
4. Configure your Domain Pricing (Configuration > Domain Pricing)
5. Setup your Support Ticket Departments (Configuration > Support Departments)
6. Setup email piping so you can manage tickets using the WHMCS Support Desk - for full instructions on this please see the relevant article
7. Ensure the WHMCS Cron Job is setup and configure automated tasks (Configuration > Automation Settings)
8. Place some test orders on your website to check everything works as expected

For furthur guidance, you can watch video tutorials we have prepared for the above tasks @ www.whmcs.com/tutorials.php