Part I: Getting Started with Joomla! 64 Managing Server Tab Options The Server Tab provides a collection of settings that relate to the way your system interacts with the server upon which is it hosted. Settings here cover not only the web server, but also the Database, FTP, and Mail systems. The Server tab of the Global Configuration Manager is accessed by clicking on the text link labeled Server, on the top-left side of the page. Figure 4.3 shows the workspace. FIGURE 4.3 The Server tab of the Global Configuration Manager. The workspace of the Site tab is broken into five areas; each area is discussed in the following sections. Server settings The following settings discussed relate to your general server configuration. l Path to Temp-folder: This field shows the path to the directory where the system’s tem- porary files are kept. The value for this field is created automatically by Joomla! during installation. Chapter 4: Getting the Most from Site Configuration 65 l GZIP Page Compression: Set this to Yes if your server supports GZIP page compression. Doing this improves site performance, but note that it only works if this feature is pro- vided by your server. l Error Reporting: Select a value from the combo box to set the level of error reporting you want the system to use. The options available are System Default, None, Simple, and Maximum. The default setting is System Default, which allows the level of error reporting to be determined by the settings in the server’s php.ini file. Note The output from the error reporting is displayed at the bottom of all pages and is visible to both front-end and back-end users. l Force SSL: Choose from the combo box to select whether the system requires the use of SSL for connections. The options are None, Administrator Only, and Entire Site. The default is None. Note that this control depends upon whether your server supports SSL. Locale settings The Locale setting allows you to adjust the time settings to suit your site, regardless of the server’s default time setting — Time Zone: Select your preferred time zone from the combo box. FTP settings Joomla! has a built-in FTP function that will assist you with moving files to the server without hav- ing to resort to a third party piece of software. The settings in this area of the workspace allow you to set up this feature. If you wish to use traditional FTP or your web site file manager, there is no reason to enable the following: l Enable FTP: Set to Yes to use Joomla’s FTP function. l FTP Host: Type the FTP URL of the host server. There is likely to be a value already in this field; it is Joomla’s best guess at the proper FTP URL and is likely to be correct. l FTP Port: Type an integer value for the port number where FTP is accessed. The default value is 21. l FTP Username: Type the username that Joomla! can use to access the server via FTP. l FTP Password: Type the password that goes with the FTP username. l FTP Root: Type the name of the directory where the files should be uploaded. Database settings The values in the fields in the Database Settings area are initially created during the installation of your site. The information in this section should not be modified, except under exceptional cir- cumstances, for example, moving your site to a new server. The fields provided are: Part I: Getting Started with Joomla! 66 Caution Changing any of these values can result in your site crashing and being inaccessible. l Database Type: This field shows the type of database being used by your system. This value is determined during the installation of your site. l Hostname: This field shows the hostname for your database. This value is determined during the installation of your site. l Username: This field shows the username used to access your database. This value is determined during the installation of your site. l Database: This field shows the name of your database. This value is determined during the installation of your site. l Database Prefix: This field shows the prefix used by your database tables. This value is determined during the installation of your site. Note If you are running multiple Joomla! installations on one database, you need to set unique Database Prefixes for each site. Mail settings Your Joomla! site can send e-mails to users under a variety of circumstances. The settings in this section of the workspace control the mail server configuration, as the following list describes: l Mailer: Select from the combo box the mailer you wish to use. This is normally deter- mined during installation. l Mail from: This field contains the e-mail address that will show in the e-mails sent by the system. This value in this field is set during installation but can be altered at any time here. l From Name: This field contains the name that will show in the Mail from field of e-mail sent by the system. By default, this is the site name, as input in the Site tab. l Sendmail Path: Enter in this field the path to the server’s SendMail program. This is only used if the Mailer control is set to SendMail. l SMTP Authentication: Set this to Yes if the SMTP server requires authentication. This is only used if the Mailer control is set to SendMail. l SMTP Username: This field contains the username for the SMTP server. This is only used if the Mailer control is set to SendMail. l SMTP Password: This field contains the password for the SMTP server. This is only used if the Mailer control is set to SendMail. l SMTP Host: This field contains the hostname of the SMTP server. This is only used if the Mailer control is set to SendMail. Chapter 4: Getting the Most from Site Configuration 67 Summary In this chapter, we went over how to use the system’s Global Configuration options. You learned the following: l How to use the Site configuration options l How to use the System configuration options l How to use the Server configuration options . should not be modified, except under exceptional cir- cumstances, for example, moving your site to a new server. The fields provided are: Part I: Getting Started with Joomla! 66 Caution Changing. time zone from the combo box. FTP settings Joomla! has a built-in FTP function that will assist you with moving files to the server without hav- ing to resort to a third party piece of software site. l Database Prefix: This field shows the prefix used by your database tables. This value is determined during the installation of your site. Note If you are running multiple Joomla! installations