First of all, you need to download the latest version from the PhpBB website: http://www.phpbb.com/downloads/olympus.php

Once you have downloaded this file, you need to extract the contents onto your desktop or another place you will be able to find easily.

Once you have extracted the contents of the file downloaded using a tool such as WinRar (http://rarlabs.com) you need to upload the files onto your webserver using an FTP client.

Change the permissions on the following directories to be writable by all (777 in your FTP Client):

store/
cache/
files/
images/avatars/upload/

Like follows;

Locate the config.php file in the root directory of your PhpBB3 install and set it to the permissions of 666 in your FTP client.

Head over to http://yourdomain.ext/path_to_phpbb3/install/

Click the “Install” Tab at the top left of the screen

Follow the onscreen steps until you get to “Database Configuration” step, as seen below;

For the next few steps, you need to be logged into cPanel or your web hosting control panel.

cPanel steps:

• Create a new SQL database by Clicking “MySQL Databases” and then enter the database name (In this example, I am using phpbb3 as the database name) like seen below. Then click “Create Database”

  

• Once the database has been created you need to create a user. Go to the bottom of the “MySQL Databases” page and enter a username and password like below, REMEMBER this password, as you WILL need it in a second. Once you have done so, click “Create User”

  

• Now the user and database has been create, you now need to add the user to the database. Under where you created the user select the database and user from the “Add User to Database” menu. On the next page, make sure all the boxes are ticked, and click “Make Changes”

Once the database is created, insert the details into the form on the PhpBB3 install like the following and then click “Proceed to next step”

Follow the rest of the instructions until PhpBB3 has been installed. Once PhpBB3 is installed, you must delete the /install/ directory from your webserver for security reasons. Do this via the FTP client you used to upload the files in the first place.

Enjoy PhpBB3!

Installation Guide from forumnoobs.com

This will be a simple installation guide, aimed at those new webmasters who want to use the phpbb forum script for the first time.

I’m going to jump the gun here, and assume that you already have the phpbb source files, (If not, you may download them Here) so we can get on.

—-Uploading—————————————————————————————

Next, open your FTP client (don’t have one? you can find Filezilla Here, for free)

Once you have connected, upload phpbb’s source files to your desired directory, and wait for the transfer to reach completion.

Once the upload is finished, you should change the permissions of the file “config.php” as shown in the picture of chmod 777, below. You don’t know how to do it? No problem. At the time of the installation, you will be able to manually change the contents of config.php.
—-Preparing the Install—————————————————————————

To install your forum, you must be in possession of some information:

• Database Server Hostname
• Database Name
• Database Username
• Database Password
• Admin Email Address

Your admin email can be whatever address you want it to be, as long as it is valid. This will be the email used with your administrative account.

You may create a new Database through your online control panel. For the purposes of this tutorial I will be using the popular DirectAdmin panel (however cPanel will be added at a later date).

In Direct Admin, open ‘Mysql Management’

In the following window (below) you should fill out the values as you see fit (although the prefix, amctest_ in my case, is often fixed). For this example I have chosen the name ‘amctest_phpbb’ as the Database name etc …

I strongly advise that whatever you choose, you write it down somewhere, as you’ll need it later.

Once you’re done, just click ‘Create’ and Hey presto! You’re ready to install your forum.
—-The Install—————————————————————————————

In order to start the phpbb install, just load its location (in this case I’ll assume that’s http://www.yourdomain.com/forums/). You should then view a page with several fields for you to fill in.

The topmost section should be titled Basic Configuration, and containing three fields. Nine times out of Ten you may leave this section as is and move to the field below.

This section is titled Database Configuration (below).

Now you can fill in the fields with the information I got you to write down earlier. The Database Hostname is nearly always ‘localhost’, and for the purposes of this guide I’ll be leaving it as such.

The Database name is in this case ‘amctest_phpbb’ however, yours will be whatever_yourname, the first part defined by your control panel, and the second set by yourself.

The same is true of the Database username, and the password is self explanatory. The Table prefix is the whatever_ value assigned by your control panel.

The last section on the page is called ‘Admin Configuration’

Here you should fill in your email address, and domain. Then input your desired username and password to the administrative account.

Once this is done, press install and that’s it! You have your forum, easy huh ?

—-Finishing off————————————————————————————

When it appears press the ‘Finish install’ button.

Also, when instructed, use your FTP client to delete the install/ and contrib/ directories.

——————————————————————————————————-

I hope you found this tutorial helpful, be sure to come back and read some more!

If for some reason you want to backup the current state of your phpBB forum, you should first login to your phpBB Administation Control Panel.

There are a few options how to create your backup:

1. Full backup;
2. Structure-Only backup;
3. Data only backup

All of them will provide you with a valid backup of your website, but depending on what backup exacty you want - you should select a different option.

The most widely used option is the Full backup, as it provides you with the full database backup of the forum, while the other options contains only part of the database.

For example, the “Structure-Only backup” will provide you with the structure of the database (structure of the tables), but will not provide you with the data itself.

In order to backup the database you should login to your administrative area and click “Backup Database” from the menu that is being displayed on the left side of the screen.

Now you should select the backup type that you would like to download on your computer and click the “Start Backup” button.

The form that you should see is something like the one below:

Please note the “Gzip compress file” option, as it would compress the backup file before sending it to you and therefore is a nice option. I kindly recommend you to enable it if your hosting provider supports the GZip compression method. (if you hosted with SiteGround you have that option enabled).

After pressing the “Start Backup” button you should be redirected to a page which looks like this:

As stated, the download process should begin shortly. Once you have downloaded the backup - keep it safe, if anything happens to your forum, that will be the only thing you can use to restory your data. You should try to make backups at least once per week, if not once per day.

Whatever topic your forum is, when you start to get a few users posting, you will need someone to take care of the load, watching over the forums when you cannot, this person is often called a moderator.

To setup global (all rounder) moderator, which means they can moderate all areas of the forum, you will need to setup a usergroup for them.

First of all, you need to click the “Management” link under “Group Admin” in the Administrator Control Panel of your phpBB forum, as seen below:

Once clicked, you will be directed to this page on the right hand side of the web browser:

Once you are on this page, click the “Create new group” button, you will be directed onto a new page with a form, like the following screenshot:

Once on this page, fill out the details. You will need to name of your group, in this example, I have used “Moderators”, you can use anything, for example: “Premium Members” or “Super Moderators”. You will also need to enter a short description about the new group.

For the group moderator, place your own username in that field, so you can manage the users in it.

Group Status: Group status is very important, if set incorrectly, you could allow normal users to join groups that are able to moderate forums, which could cause problems. Here is an explanation on the meanings of the groups;

Open Group - This means the group is open, anyone can join it, but the group leader needs to approve each new addition to the group.
Closed Group - This means the group is closed, users will be able to see the group, and see the members under it, but not be able to request to join the group.
Hidden Group - This means the group is hidden from view, users are not able to see the group, and are not able to see any users under it, they also cannot request to join it.

For your global moderator group, you should pick “Closed Group” to avoid people being able to moderate the forum that should not be able to.

Once the form is filled in, click the “Submit” button, or to start again, click the “Reset” button, this will save and create your new usergroup, now all that needs to be done is to setup the group so users under it can moderate the forums.

Click the “Permissions” link under “Group Admin” in the Administration Control Panel, as seen below;

Once you have loaded up the permissions page, you should see something like the image below;

You need to select the usergroup you just created (In this example, Moderators) and then click “Look up Group”, this will load the following page up;

On this page, all you need to do is change “Not Moderator” to “Is Moderator” on all the forums you want this user to be able to moderate, and then click “Submit” to save your changes.

Voila - Sorted

Hello everyone!

Welcome to ForumNoobs, my name is Richard Anderson, and I am the new owner of this fine site.

Not much has been going on over the last few… Well… The last 8 months really… Which is really bad, but now that I am in charge, I aim to develop this site and by adding content daily, get this site from off the ground.

This site has great potential, and with your help, I aim to make this the first stop of the foruming “noob” for help and support for all their foruming needs.

Enjoy the site, and please do leave a comment or feedback, we always want to hear from our visitors on what you want to see next.

Regards,
Richard Anderson