Drupal Documentation
Prepare
Minimal requirements
To install and run Drupal your hosting server should meet the engine requirements. Most of the hosting companies meet the standards. However, there can be exceptions, that is why you should check the following properties.
Disk space
A minimum Drupal installation requires 15 Megabytes. 60 MB is needed for a website with many contributed modules and themes installed. Keep in mind you need much more space for the database, files uploaded by the users, media, backups and other files.
Web-server
Apache, Nginx или Microsoft IIS.
More details about web server requirements.
Apache is the most commonly used web server for Drupal. The majority of Drupal development and testing is done on this server. That's why it's recommended to use Apache.
Database
MySQL 5.0.15 or higher with PDO, PostgreSQL 8.3 or higher with PDO, SQLite 3.3.7 or higher.
When installing Drupal, please note that some of the modules may not support PostgreSQL and SQLite databases, moreover template configuration and sample data are stored in MySQL format. That is why it is recommended to use MySQL database only.
PHP
PHP 5.2.5 or higher (5.3 recommended).
More details about PHP requirements.
Validation
Both HTML markup and CSS styles used in our templates are semantically correct and valid. However some W3C errors still can take place. Making code 100% W3C valid eliminates the usage of modern website technologies as CSS3 features and HTML5 markup. Our goal is to deliver rich user experience with high quality templates and sometimes we have to break some rules.
Downloading Drupal engine
In case the Drupal engine is already downloaded/installed, skip this step.
The first step of Drupal website building is the engine downloading from the official website http://drupal.org/.
Using the link above you can download .zip or tar.gz archive with core files.
To download the latest Drupal version, click Download Drupal X.XX button, where X.XX is the latest Drupal version number.
If you are looking for an older Drupal version, follow the link Other Releases:
In the API Version field choose the required branch of Drupal versions and click Apply button:
Below you will see the full list of the selected branch versions, where you can download the required one.
Please, check the template requirements regarding the engine version compatibility and make sure that you are downloading the correct version.
Extracting files
When you are done with the downloading, you need to extract the files and folders from the engine package.
You can extract files using any archive manager like WinZip (PC), StuffitExpander (MAC), etc.
The following tutorials will show you how to extract archive files using WinZip (PC) and StuffitExpander (MAC) application.
Attention! If your hosting control panel includes the "Extract"option, you can upload .zip package to the server and extract files there.
Uploading Drupal engine to a server
If you extract files locally on your computer, you will need to upload them to a hosting server.
Drupal engine should be uploaded to the root directory of your hosting server. Usually it is named WWW or public_html. If you are not sure about the root directory name, contact your hosting provider for more information.
You can upload files to a server using programs for managing files, like FileZilla, TotalCommander, etc. There is also a number of browsers add-ons (e.g. FireFTP for Mozilla Firefox). Moreover some hosting providers offer the file manager option. Please, check your control panel or contact your hosting provider for more details.
Feel free to check the video tutorials: How to upload files to a server or How to upload files to a server using Cpanel (WebHost manager, WHM).
Creating a database
As it was mentioned above, Drupal installation requires MySQL database. Database can be created in your hosting control panel.
You can contact your hosting provider in order to get some help creating a database.
During the database creation process you will get the following details:
- Database server name or hostname.
- Database name.
- Database username.
- Database password.
Please, note these details. You will need them during the installation process.
Feel free to check the following instructions: