The Basics
Vanilla requires a server with PHP, MySQL, and web server software (like Apache or nginx). You’ll probably need to own a domain, and already have it configured on your server with DNS. You usually 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 is responsible for all these things. You should consult their docs and contact their support with any questions to getting as far as that.
Say you bought some web space and someone told you how to access it. It might be that you bought a domain like example.com or you received only a cryptic sub domain of your provider like abc123456789.yourwebhoster.com or you might only have 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 change 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. We have docs for nginx.
Installation
Vanilla is built to be simple, and its installation is no exception.
- Upload Vanilla’s pre-built version to your server.
- Using nginx? See 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 instructions on screen.
If you run into a problem, see Getting Help below.
Migrating 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 run into a problem, see Getting Help below.
Using Maintenance Mode
You can temporarily halt all access to your forum by putting it into maintenance mode. Users currently signed in with owner privileges (the user who created the forum) will still be able to use the site.
To put your site in maintenance mode, add this to /conf/config.php and save it:
$Configuration['Garden']['UpdateMode'] = true;
To end maintenance mode, delete it and save.
Getting Help