Using Drupal

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Using Drupal

Overview

Drupal is an open source content management system that is used for everything from personal websites and blogs to large enterprise applications. Drupal can also be used as the development platform for web based applications. There are thousands of modules available for Drupal that can be used as building blocks to enhance the functionality of your Drupal-based website or web application.

Installing Drupal
    Installing Drupal using the Control Panel
    Installing Drupal from drupal.org (command line method)

Using Drupal
Adding Drupal Themes and Modules

Updating and Upgrading Drupal
    Drupal Updates
    Drupal Upgrades

Installing Drupal

Drupal can be installed from the Control Panel or the command line of your Virtual Server. Before installing Drupal, make sure your Virtual Server meets the basic system requirements. The official Drupal system requirements can be found here: Drupal System Requirements.

If you built your Virtual Server with a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL/MariaDB, and PHP) template you should have the necessary software for Drupal already installed. The available LAMP templates are CentOS 7 64bit LAMP w/ MariaDB (ISPmanager), CentOS 6 64bit LAMP (ISPmanager), and CentOS 6 32bit LAMP (ISPmanager). eApps recommends that you use a LAMP template if you are going to install Drupal.

If you did not create your Virtual Server with a LAMP template, you will need to make sure that you have PHP and either MySQL (CentOS 6) or MariaDB (CentOS 7) installed. Depending on the template you used you may also have to install the Apache web server (httpd).

PHP can be installed from the Control Panel or the command line of your Virtual Server. More information about installing PHP can be found here: PHP User Guide - Installing PHP.

MySQL can be installed from the Control Panel or the command line of a CentOS 6 server or from the command line of a CentOS 7 server. More information about installing MySQL can be found here: MySQL User Guide - Installing MySQL.

MariaDB can be installed from the Control Panel or the command line of a CentOS 7 server. More information on installing MariaDB can be found here: MariaDB User Guide - Installing MariaDB.

Installing Drupal using the Control Panel

Drupal can be installed using the Control Panel of your Virtual Server (if available).

Installing Drupal using the ISPmanager Control Panel

If you are using the ISPmanager Control Panel, you can install Drupal using Web-scripts. Both ISPmanager 4 and ISPmanager 5 have Web-scripts available. More information about installing applications using Web-scripts can be found here: Installing Applications Using ISPmanager Web-scripts.

Installing Drupal from drupal.org (command line method)

Drupal can be downloaded and installed from the main Drupal website. This is a command line or FTP based installation method. Full instructions for the Drupal installation are available here: Drupal Installation Guide. This method will always have the latest version of Drupal available, as well as the most up-to-date instructions.

This method is generally for advanced users who are familiar with working from the command line of the Virtual Server.

Using Drupal

Drupal can be used for anything from a personal blog to an enterprise website or web application. Drupal is also frequently used as the development platform for other applications, such as CiviCRM for managing civic engagement, OpenAtrium for intranets, or OpenChurch for managing religious communities.

There is extensive online and printed documentation on how to use Drupal. The Get Started section of the Drupal website has a list of Drupal modules, documentation, and resources for training and support. There are also a large number of Drupal books available.

Adding Drupal Themes and Modules

Themes and Modules Overview

Drupal has a large number of themes and modules available. A theme allows you to change the appearance of Drupal, such as the color scheme or page layout. A module adds some sort of functionality to Drupal, such as additional security features or ways to add or manage content. Some themes and modules are free, and some require a paid license to use. There are over 16,000 modules available for Drupal, and you can also create your own themes and modules.

NOTE - please see the Themes and Modules Installation section below before trying to install a theme or module.

The official Drupal documentation for Themes is here: Theming Guide. This page links to the official Installing Themes guide.

There are two types of modules for Drupal: Core modules and Contributed modules. Core modules are bundled with the default Drupal install package to give you a good starting point for your Drupal website or web application. Contributed modules are third party applications that you can install to extend the functionality of Drupal.

A list of the current Drupal core modules is here: Core modules. This page is automatically generated and has links to the documentation for each module. Instructions on installing contributed modules is here: Installing modules. You can find a list of contributed modules here: Modules.

Themes and Modules Installation

In order to install themes or modules for Drupal, you will need to to add the website owner group to the apache user, and change the permissions on two directories.

Adding the website owner group to the apache user

You will need to add the website owner group (SITE_OWNER_GROUP) as an additional group to the apache user. The website owner is the user that owns the WWW-domain (in ISPmanager) or the user that owns the files and directories where Drupal is installed. This will allow the web server to write (make changes) to some Drupal directories as needed.

This can only be done from the command line of the Virtual Server. To do this, you will need to connect to the Virtual Server using SSH and be able to work as the root user. If you need assistance with this, please contact eApps Support.

To add the website owner group to the apache user, use the usermod -a -G command. Note the capital G.

[root@eapps-example ~]# usermod -a -G SITE_OWNER_GROUP apache

Changing directory permissions

You will need to change the permissions on two directories in your Drupal install directory (DRUPAL_INSTALL_DIR). Depending on how you installed Drupal, this will either be the DocumentRoot of your website, or a subdirectory of the DocumentRoot.

The two directories you will need to change permissions on are:

DRUPAL_INSTALL_DIR/sites/default/tmp
DRUPAL_INSTALL_DIR/tmp (remember that this is the /tmp directory in the Drupal install directory, not the system /tmp directory)

Both directories will need to be set to 775 permissions, and the /sites/default/tmp directory will need all subdirectories set to 775 permissions.

This can be done from either the command line of the Virtual Server or the File Manager in your Control Panel.


Changing directory permissions using the Control Panel

Your Control Panel will have a file manager that you can use to manage the permissions of files and directories.

Using the File Manager in the ISPmanager Control Panel

You can make changes to files and directories from the ISPmanager Control Panel using the File Manager. The location of the File Manager will differ depending on which version of ISPmanager you are using. How to tell which version of ISPmanager you have can be found here: ISPmanager versions.

  • ISPmanager 4 - information about using the File Manager in ISPmanager 4, including links to the official vendor documentation, can be found here - ISPmanager 4 File Manager.

  • ISPmanager 5 - information about using the File Manager in ISPmanager 5, including links to the official vendor documentation, can be found here - ISPmanager 5 File Manager.

In the ISPmanager File Manager, the Change child elements feature is what you need to use to change the files and subdirectories below a main directory.


Changing directory permissions using the command line

The directory permissions can also be changed from the command line of the Virtual Server. To do this, you will need to connect to the Virtual Server using SSH and be able to work as either the root user or as the user who owns the website files.

To change the permissions for the DRUPAL_INSTALL_DIR/sites/default/tmp directory and all subdirectories, use the chmod -R 775 command. Note the capital R.

[root@eapps-example ~]# chmod -R 775 DRUPAL_INSTALL_DIR/sites/default/tmp


To change the permissions for the DRUPAL_INSTALL_DIR/tmp directory, use the chmod 775 command.

[root@eapps-example ~]# chmod 775 DRUPAL_INSTALL_DIR/tmp


Once you have changed the permissions for the directories listed, you should be able to install themes and modules.

Updating and Upgrading Drupal

For Drupal, an update and an upgrade are two different things. An update goes from minor version to minor version, such as going from Drupal 7.1 to Drupal 7.2. An upgrade goes from major version to major version, such as going from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8. An update is usually fairly trivial, while an upgrade is non-trivial.

More information about updating and upgrading can be found here: Upgrading from previous versions.

Drupal Updates

Drupal updates are usually updates to Drupal Core, the software that is included with the default Drupal install. The instructions for updating Drupal Core are here: Update Drupal Core. Make sure to read the instructions carefully, and make sure to ALWAYS have a current backup of your website and database. If you do not have a current backup and something goes wrong during the update, you may have data loss.

Drupal Upgrades

Drupal upgrades are between major versions, such as from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8. Drupal upgrades are non-trivial, and require planning and testing on your part in order for them to be successful. You may find, for example, that some modules and themes are not compatible with the new major version, and you will have to decide to either wait until they are before upgrading or continue on using different modules and themes.

The upgrade documentation for Drupal is not all in one location, due to the nature of the upgrade process. Start here: Upgrading from previous versions, and begin with the section titled Major upgrade procedure. Also look at the Before you begin page for more information.

While not in any way comprehensive, the general steps to upgrading Drupal include:

  • Updating to the latest minor version
  • Backing up your site and databases
  • Creating a test site using the new version of Drupal you are upgrading to (usually on a different Virtual Server)
  • Migrating your data to the test site
  • Testing your site and content on the test site
  • Doing the upgrade after the testing is complete

Make sure to read all documentation you can find about Drupal upgrades before starting the upgrade process.

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