Difference between revisions of "System Requirements"

(A note on PHP memory requirement)
 
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=== Basic System Requirements ===
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'''JomSocial is an extension for Joomla. To be able to use JomSocial, you would first need to install Joomla on your web host.'''
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We recommend using the latest stable version of Joomla (currently 2.5) to enjoy its latest features and security improvements. JomSocial supports the minimum requirement of:
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    <div class="header header-plain">Select Your Version</div>
Joomla 2.5.6 or above
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      <div class="block">
For the server, make sure it has:
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* [[JomSocial 4.4 System Requirements]]
PHP 5.3 or above
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* [[JomSocial 4.3 System Requirements]]
MySQL 4.1 or above
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* [[JomSocial 4 System Requirements|JomSocial 4.0.x, 4.1.x and 4.2.x System Requirements]]
JomSocial also requires several PHP extensions, which are available in most webhosting providers:
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* [[JomSocial 3 System Requirements]]
GD library, at least v1.8 with libjpeg
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cURL library
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zip
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fsockopen
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That's almost all you need for most of JomSocial's basic functionality to work. For more advanced features, including faster photo uploading, video uploading, and Facebook Connect, follow the sections below.
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=== How to Check for System Specifications ===
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You can check most of the requirements below by accessing Joomla's backend via your Administrator Panel and going to Help > System Info > System Information and PHP Information tab. However, for the most complete overview of your server configuration, contact your webhosting provider.
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[[File:jsysinfo.png]]
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[[File:jphpinfo.png]]
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=== Photo Upload Requirements ===
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To process images, photo upload relies heavily on the GD Library, which uses a lot of memory. For better performance, use ImageMagick instead, if your server supports it.
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Minimum: GD library
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Recommended: ImageMagick. It will require exec/passthru/shell_exec/system access.
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=== Video Upload Requirements ===
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==== Video Linking ====
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Linking from external websites, such as YouTube, Metacafe, and Vimeo only requires cURL to be installed, which is available on most servers today.
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cURL library
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==== Video Upload ====
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Video upload uses [http://ffmpeg.org/ FFMPEG] to convert videos. Most shared webhosting providers disable this option because it consumes a lot of memory and processing power. Please consult your webhosting provider regarding the availability of FFMPEG on your server. It is advisable to at least have VPS before you consider allowing video uploading.
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* Minimum: FFMPEG; to get it running, it also requires exec/passthru/shell_exec/system access
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* Optional: FLVTool2, for adding metadata to your video
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Unlike other extensions, the path to FFMPEG and FLVTool2 need to be specified on your JomSocial backend. Go to Site > Configuration and look for the "Videos" section. There you will find the fields to set both paths.
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[[File:ffmpegsettings.png]]
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One last thing that JomSocial needs to process the video is a Cronjob (scheduled task). Make sure your Cronjob is configured properly by referring to [[Setting up Cron Job|this documentation]].
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===  Large Photo/Video Uploads ===
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When it comes to large photo/video uploads, there are a few server configurations that you can tweak to the get the most out of JomSocial:
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'''php.ini'''
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max_execution_time = 9000; Maximum execution time of each script, in seconds.
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max_input_time = 9000; Maximum amount of time each script may spend parsing request data.
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memory_limit = 1024M; Maximum amount of memory a script may consume.
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post_max_size = 1024M; Maximum size of POST data that PHP will accept.
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upload_max_filesize = 1024M; Maximum allowed size for uploaded files.
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'''my.cnf'''
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wait_timeout = 120
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connect_timeout = 120
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'''Disable safe_mode and open_basedir'''
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Some webhosting providers have safe_mode and openbase_dir enabled. In order for the photo/video upload to work, you have to disable them. If your webhosting provier allows you to override the Apache's configuration, you need to override the vhost configuration.
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php_admin_flag safe_mode off
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php_admin_value open_basedir none
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If your webhosting provider allows for .htaccess override, locate your .htaccess file in the Joomla root directory and add these lines into it:
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php_admin_flag safe_mode off
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php_admin_value open_basedir none
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=== Temporary Tables ===
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Your database user must be granted permission to create temporary database tables. Ideally, the database user should have full permissions, but some webhosting providers set limits on the database user privileges. If that is the case, it would be advisable to switch providers since even the cheapest shared hosting today offers what you see on the screen below:
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[[File:CPanelmysqluser.png]]
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=== Facebook Connect Requirements ===
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Before you begin implementing the Facebook Connect feature on your website, make sure you have read the Facebook Connect Policy.
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All of the extensions needed for Facebook Connect shown below, are already included in the basic requirements:
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GD library
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cURL library
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fsockopen
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Please also ensure that there are no Javascript or jQuery conflicts on your site because it will lead to an error in executing Facebook Connect. We recommend that you use Firebug (a Firefox add-on) to identify and debug such issues.
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=== A Note on PHP Memory Requirements ===
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JomSocial is developed to run adequately on a system with just 32MB of memory allocated to PHP. However, please note that the development site uses the default template with no additional third-party modules or plugins enabled. Sites with third-party plugins and modules enabled will consume a lot more memory; thus, we recommend that you increase your memory limit.
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That having been said, any application will run better with more memory, so we recommend that you allocate at least 64MB of memory to PHP. The following tasks will consume a lot of memory:
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resizing uploaded user avatar
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resizing any photos uploaded by user
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converting uploaded videos to Flash .swf
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Latest revision as of 08:23, 22 August 2017