The Basics
Higher Logic Vanilla (Vanilla) requires a server with PHP, MySQL, and web server software (like Apache or nginx).
- You’ll likely need to own a domain, and already have it configured on your server with DNS.
- You typically need to create a database for it via your hosting provider, often via phpMyAdmin.
- Then, you’ll need to visit that domain after uploading Vanilla to continue installation.
Up to this point, your web host has been responsible for these things. You should consult their documentation and contact their support with any questions you may have.
Say you bought some web space and someone told you how to access it. Perhaps you:
- bought a domain like
example.com , - received a cryptic sub domain of your provider, like
abc123456789.yourwebhoster.com , - or maybe you only received an IP address, so that you can reach your web space with
1.2.3.4.
When you enter one of those to reach your web host, your web server shows what is in a folder of your web space. Often, that folder is called public_html. Say you own example.com and that’s what you set up on your server. You have created a subfolder called forum (always use lowercase letters!) and uploaded Vanilla to it (see installation below). Then, you will be able to see the Vanilla installer when you visit example.com/forum in your browser.
Requirements
We strongly recommend:
- PHP 7.3 or higher
- MySQL 5.7 or higher (or Percona/MariaDB equivalent)
- SSL encryption (check out LetsEncrypt)
If your server is not running PHP 7.1 or higher, you should address this soon. PHP 7.0 has reached end of life and will no longer receive security patches. Vanilla’s support for PHP 7.0 will end soon.
Our minimum requirements are now:
- PHP 7.1 or newer. (This changed to 7.2 in 2020.)
- PHP extensions mbstring (
--enable-mbstring), cURL (--with-curl), GD (on by default), and PDO (on by default). - To import into Vanilla, you need MySQLi (
--with-mysqli). - To use our social plugins, you need OpenSSL.
- MySQL 5.0 or newer (or Percona/MariaDB equivalent).
- MySQL strict mode disabled.
Vanilla ships with a .htaccess file required for Apache support. Using nginx or IIS may require additional configuration. To learn more, see nginx.
Installation
- Upload Vanilla’s pre-built version to your server.
- If you're using nginx, refer to our nginx guide.
- Confirm the
cache, conf, and uploads folders are writable by PHP. - Navigate to the folder where you uploaded Vanilla in your web browser.
- Follow the on-screen instructions.
If you encounter a problem, refer to the Getting Help section below.
Migrate to Vanilla
- Get Vanilla Porter and verify it supports your platform.
- Read the Advanced Uses notes on that page.
- Upload it to your current server.
- Navigate to the file in your web browser & run it.
- Take the file it produces and import it to Vanilla via the Dashboard’s “Import” option.
If you encounter a problem, refer to the Getting Help section below.
Use Maintenance Mode
You can temporarily halt ALL access to your site by putting it into Maintenance Mode. Users currently signed in with owner privileges (the user who created the site) will still be able to use the site.
Initiate maintenance mode
To put your site in Maintenance Mode, add this to /conf/config.php and save it:
$Configuration['Garden']['UpdateMode'] = true;
Turn off maintenance mode
To end maintenance mode, delete the above code and save.
Getting Help
