How to install Bolt via Softaculous
The easiest way to install Bolt on your account is via the Softaculous auto-installer. The process requires a few clicks only and you can get a fully featured installation in no time. We will review the steps for the Softaculous installation of Bolt on your account, so you can get a better understanding of the process.
The Softaculous installation of Bolt includes:
- Step 1: Find Bolt in the Softaculous Installer
- Step 2: Configure the Installation Details
Find Bolt in the Softaculous Installer
First and foremost you must login with your cPanel account details. Once inside your cPanel you can find and the Softaculous tool two ways. The first option is to use the search bar on the left.
The second option is by scrolling down and locating the Software and Servicestab.
When you locate the Softaculous icon, click on it. This will open the app installer tool and you will be able to proceed with the installation from there.
Fortunately we can use Softaculous's search bar to ease the process of locating Bolt among the various CMS scripts. What we need to do is just type Bolt in the search bar and it will immediately appear. Click on the application's name to proceed further.
Further reading:
Configure the Installation Details
When you access the Bolt overview via Softaculous, you will be able to get more details about the application, such as a demo, reviews, ratings, comments and more. This will help you decide if this is really the app that you wish to use for the development of your website. If so, click on the Install button at the top to proceed with the setup of Bolt on your account.
This will present us with the various installment configurations that we can choose from before installing the script. Let us review the options in the Software Setup section first:
- Choose Protocol - Select the protocol for the new installation. Do NOT use the secured HTTPS protocol, if you do not have an SSL certificate installed on your domain by our technical support team. This is a paid service that you can purchase via your Client Area.
- Choose Domain - Select the domain to be used for the new installation. This is usually the primary domain of your account, but if you have any addon/subdomains, you will be able to select them here as well.
- In Directory - If you wish to install Bolt in a subdirectory, you can specify it's name here. If you wish to install the application directly on your domain, leave this field blank.
The second section is called Admin Account. You can set up the administrative user for your new website. Keep this information safe as you will need it later. The details you need to enter are:
- Admin Username - Enter a username for the administrative user on your new website.
- Admin Password - Enter a password for the admin user.
- Real Name - Enter the real name of the administrator.
- Admin Email - Enter the email address of your administrator.
When you are ready with the configuration options for your new Bolt website, simply click on the Install button at the bottom of the page and the system will do the rest for you.
The installation will take few seconds for completion. Once ready, it will provide you with a message saying that the installation was completed along with the administrative URL that you must use in order to enter Bolt's backend.
Congratulations! You have successfully installed Bolt on your website by using the Softaculous one click installer.
Further reading:
How to install Bolt via SSH
We will review the installation of Bolt on your hosting plan, using SSH connection to the server. If you are comfortable with the Linux terminal, the installation of Bolt will be relatively easy that way.
To install Bolt via SSH, the steps that you need to follow are:
- Step 1: Establish SSH Connection
- Step 2: Download and Prepare Bolt for Installation
- Step 3: Initiate the Installation
SSH Connection
The first thing you need to do is to access your account on the server through SSH. This is not available for shared and reseller hosting plans.
SSH Connection
If you do not know how to access your account over SSH, you can review our tutorial that will describe the entire process.
Once you access your account on the server via SSH, you need to access the public_html/ directory. It is the directory, accessible directly via the primary domain on your account. For that purpose, you need to execute the following command.
cd public_html
If you wish to install Bolt directly on the primary domain, this is the directory, where you need to perform the installation steps. Otherwise, if you are installing it for an addon domain or a subdomain, you would have to go to it first. If you do not know the directory, you can see it through your cPanel ? Domains tab ? Subdomains/Addon Domains. You will notice a Document Root column, which will show you the path to it, with regards to the home directory of your account. Then simply copy the path and execute this command with the path as its argument.
cd [argument]
Download and Prepare Bolt for Installation
Now that you are located in the directory that you want to install Bolt, you will have to execute three commands, one after the other.
The first command will download the Bolt installation package on your account and in the directory, where you will install it. It is:
curl -O http://bolt.cm/distribution/bolt-latest.tar.gz
The next command will extract the contents of the archive. It is:
tar -xzf bolt-latest.tar.gz --strip-components=1
The last command will apply the required permissions to the folders of Bolt. This is a required step so you can perform the installation without any issues. The command is:
chmod -R 777 files/ app/database/ app/cache/ app/config/ theme/ extensions/
Initiate the Installation
The next step is to access your website through your favorite web browser. You will see the Bolt user creation form, since there are currently no other users. You may notice that at the bottom of the document, there is a warning that currently the database is configured with SQLite. This should not bother you at all, as we will show you how to reconfigure it later. Now, you will have to enter the required data for the creation of a new user. The available options are:
Username - Enter a username
Password - Enter a password for the new user.
Password (confirmation) - Enter the password twice for verification.
Email - Enter the email address of the new user.
Display Name - Enter a display name for the user.
When you are ready, click on the Create the first user button. The system will complete the rest for you.
The system will create the user and then automatically redirect you to the Bolt login form. From there, you will be able to access your new account.
The installation of Bolt is now successfully completed. You can access the administrative area of your Bolt website and start adding content.
Bolt MySQL Setup
If your project is going to be vast in size, we strongly recommend that you set up your website with a MySQL database.
How to install Bolt using FTP
We now will review the process of installing Bolt on your hosting account via FTP. Note that there is a much easier way, installing Bolt via Softaculous. However, if you wish to handle that manually, you can count on us and proceed with this article and the information below.
The steps for installing Bolt via FTP are:
Step 1: Download and Prepare Bolt for Installation
Step 2: Create SQLite User
Download and Prepare Bolt for Installation
The first step of the process is to download the latest release of the application from the official Bolt website. once there, just click on the button that says Latest Bolt as ZIP.
This will download the latest installation archive of Bolt on your local computer. You will have to unzip it on your local computer and this will create a folder that contains all of the files you need to complete a new Bolt installation. The next thing is to upload those file on your hosting account.
Upload Files
There are two ways of uploading your files to the server - using an FTP client, following our FTP tutorial, or uploading directly through your cPanel account ? File Manager, following our cPanel tutorial.
Depending on where you would like to install Bolt, you will have to upload the installation files on a different location. If you wish to install Bolt directly on the primary domain set on your account, you need to upload the files to the public_html/ directory of your account. Alternatively, if you are installing Bolt in a subfolder or subdomain, the location will be different so keep that in mind.
.htaccess File
Make sure that you upload the .htaccess file otherwise Bolt won't work. If you are using an OSX OS, make sure that "hidden" files are displayed.
The next step is to change the permissions for some of the folders of your new Bolt installation. This is important, in order to make sure that the installation goes through smoothly. Use your FTP client in order to change the access permissions to the following directories.
app/cache/
app/config/
app/database/
files/
theme/
extensions/
The new permissions should grant full read, write and execute rights for all users. In octal notation the value that you must input is 777.
Create a SQLite User
The next thing to do is to perform the actual installation process. For that purpose, simply access your domain via your favorite web browser. This will bring up the User Creation screen. This is the first step as you need to create a valid administrative user for your new Bolt website.
You may also notice that at the bottom of the document there is a warning that currently the database is configured with SQLite, this shouldn't bother you, as we will show how you can reconfigure it later. Edit the following options:
Username - Enter a username
Password: -Enter a password for the new user.
Password (confirmation) - Enter the password twice for verification.
Email - Enter the email address of the new user.
Display Name - Enter a display name for the user.
Next, click on the "Create the first user" button so you can proceed with the installation. The system will complete the rest for you.
Then bolt will inform you of the successful creation of the user. You will be redirected to the login page and you need to enter the details you have specified in the previous step.
The installation of Bolt via FTP is now successfully completed. You can access the administrative area of your Bolt website and start adding content.
Bolt MySQL Setup
If your project is going to be vast in size, we strongly recommend that you set up your website with a MySQL database. It is much more reliable and you can review our tutorial on how to MySQL database.
About Bolt CMS
Bolt is a relatively young open source CMS software with a rapidly growing user base. Entering the CMS stage in 2012, it is utilizing modern open source libraries and has proved so far that it is an excellent tool for creating elegant HTML5 websites.
It is lightweight and highly customable although lacking some of the functionalities that the larger CMS platforms provide. But for that Bolt compensates with an incredibly easy to use interface. Even editors who don't have much previous experience with it can easily create new content. And content management is made even easier, with the latest release of Bolt you can easily edit content from the front end so that you can directly see how it will appear for the visitors.
One of the main advantages of Bolt over other similar CMS scripts is that it's highly flexible. Whether you are creating a small website, or you are laying the foundation for something big, Bolt has it all. And along with that the documentation provided by the development team is really well made.
System requirements
Bolt does not have any heavy requirements and our hosting plans are suitable for best performance of your website. The minimum requirements of Bolt are:
PHP 5.3.3 or higher
Access to SQLite (which comes bundled with PHP 5.3), or MySQL or PostgreSQL
Apache with mod_rewrite enabled (.htaccess files) or Nginx (virtual host configuration covered below)
A minimum of 32MB of memory allocated to PHP
PDO extension, to connect to a database
cUrl extension
GD Extension
Requirements
Our Bolt Hosting is fully compatible with the system requirements of Bolt, and we provide all the additional recommendations as well. Furthermore, our shared servers are running entirely on SSD for outstanding Bolt experience.
Useful Resources for Bolt users:
- Official Bolt Website
- Bolt Documentation
- Bolt Extensions and Templates Directory
- Official Bolt Community
