Installing Magento for an online shop

Magento is the heaviest shop platform in the cPanel installer. It installs in minutes like the others, but it does not behave like the others: it uses far more memory, far more processor time and many more files than an OpenCart or a PrestaShop doing the same number of sales.

Read this before you settle on Magento. On a small shared plan it installs and opens, but the administration panel turns sluggish and the background jobs start falling behind. If the catalogue runs to thousands of products, or several people work in the panel at once, a shared plan is not the right home: see VPS, Cloud or Dedicated. If the shop is small, OpenCart or PrestaShop give you the same result at a fraction of the weight.

What has to be ready first

Requirement What to do
PHP version The 2.4 series wants PHP 8.2 or newer; the previous release settles for 8.1. Change it in Select PHP Version: see changing your PHP version without breaking the site.
PHP extensions Magento is the most demanding of the lot. On a new account you have to switch on four that arrive off: intl, soap, sodium and fileinfo. They live in the same Select PHP Version screen, on the extensions tab.
Database version This is where the newest Magento trips: it asks for a database engine newer than the one our shared servers run. The installer says so and stops. Pick the previous 2.4 release, which passes.
Space and files A Magento installation brings tens of thousands of files. Check what you have left before you start: see the limits of your account.
Switch the four extensions on before you open the installer. If you enable them after it complains, you have to go back and reload the page for it to notice.

Installing, step by step

1 Sign in to Meu MozOut at https://www.meu.mozout.co.mz and open the cPanel for the plan.
2 First, open Select PHP Version and switch on intl, soap, sodium and fileinfo.
3 Open the Softaculous Apps Installer, search for Magento and pick the newest release that is not blocked.
4 Choose the address. Protocol https, the shop domain, and an empty directory field to install at the root.
5 Fill in the administrator account: first name, surname, username, password, e-mail. Use the password generator: Magento insists on long passwords and rejects weak ones.
6 Look carefully at the admin directory field. The installer proposes a name; change it to something only you know, and write it down. That name is what you type in the address to reach the panel, and Magento has no fallback entrance at /admin.
7 Decide about the sample data. It fills the shop with fake products so you can see how it looks, and then takes effort to clear out. For a production shop, leave it off.
8 Under Advanced Options, switch on automatic backups, then click Install.
Keep the admin directory wherever you keep the password. Losing that directory name means losing the way in. You can still read it out of the shop configuration file, but it is a detour worth avoiding. See recovering the Magento administrator password.

Straight after the installation

1 Create the scheduled task. Magento depends on it to reindex, send e-mail, work out campaign prices and build reports. Without it the shop looks fine while the unfinished work piles up. See cron jobs.
2 Check https and the padlock, then force https: redirecting HTTP to HTTPS.
3 Deal with performance before you open to the public. See making Magento run fast.
4 Understand where your responsibility ends and the bank begins. Before taking payments, read selling online, PCI and card data.
5 Take the first backup before the first theme or module.

For what every installation has in common, see installing a ready-made platform.

Not sure your shop really needs Magento? Tell us how many products you have and how many orders a day you expect.

Open a support ticket

SEE ALSO

VPS Server

Hosting plans and what each one includes

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