In order to run an SMF forum, the server must meet the following requirements, and will run best on servers that also meet the recommendations below. This software has been tested and verified to work with the clients listed below, which are all internet browsers.

Basic Server Requirements

The following are required on any server intending to run SMF 1.1.x or 2.0.

• A webserver with approximately six megabytes of available disk space available
• A webserver that supports PHP, such as Apache or Internet Information Server (IIS)
• About 20 MB of storage space on the web server for SMF files.
• PHP 4.1.0 or higher
• The following must be changed in the php.ini file.
  • The engine directive must be set to On.
  • The magic_quotes_sybase directive must be set to Off.
  • The session.save_path directive must be set to a valid directory or empty.
  • The file_uploads directive must be set to On.
  • The upload_tmp_dir directive must be set to a valid directory or empty.
• One of the following databases must be installed.
  • For SMF 1.1.x, MySQL 4.0.18 or higher
  • For SMF 2.0.x
    • MySQL 4.0.18 or higher (at least 4.1.0 would be better) and PHP MySQL client API 4.0.18 or higher.
    • PostgreSQL 8.0 or higher (standard_conforming_strings must be set to off, starting from PostgreSQL 9.1 default is on)
    • SQLite 1.x - 2.x.
• The following are required of the database.
  • For SMF 1.1.x, at leaset 500 kb of storage space, and for SMF 2.0.x, at least 2 MB of storage space in the database. More is highly recommended.
  • The database user must have at least the following privileges: SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, ALTER, and INDEX.
  • The database user must have the CREATE and DROP privileges during installation, conversion and some package installs.

Server Recommendations

These are not required, but may be beneficial to your SMF install and enable you to use more functions.

• GNU Aspell 0.50 or higher (with appropriate dictionaries) for spell checking functionality.
• Apache 2.0.x or above with AcceptPathInfo set to On for queryless URL support.

• PHP with the following set in your php.ini file:
  • max_input_time set to a value of at least 30.
  • post_max_size and upload_max_filesize set to the size of the largest attachments you wish to be able to upload.
  • memory_limit set to at least 8M.
  • max_execution_time set to at least 15.
  • register_globals set to Off.
  • session.use_trans_sid set to Off.
  • safe mode disabled, or PHP suExec enabled.
  • BCMath library enabled for using the OpenID registration method.
  • mod_security disabled (please see Mod security for more information)

• GD Graphics Library 2.0 or higher.

Basic Client Requirements

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher (7.0 or higher recommended).
• Opera 7.0 or higher (9.5 or higher recommended).
• Netscape 6.0 or higher.
• Mozilla Suite 1.0.2 or higher.
• Konqueror or Galeon.
• Apple Safari 1.0 or higher (3.0 or higher recommended).
• Mozilla Firefox 3.0 or higher (3.5 or higher recommended).

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Installing and Upgrading

• Introduction to installing
• Installing

• Requirements and recommendations
• Converting
• Change log

• Upgrading
• Patching