Can online forum be installed under main directory?

[squash]

Is it possible to set up the PHPBB forum under my main domain instead of a subfolder? In other words when they go to mydomain.com it opens up to the forum instantly. Or does it all have to be installed in mydomain.com/forum ?

[farcaster]

You can install it to your main domain. Just don't specify a directory during the installation method and it will default to your public_html. However - if you have anything there it will be overwritten.

[squash]

Cool thanks, good to know. I've seen the horror stories of spammers taking control of forums. Does the admin side give me plenty of control to prevent all this?

[farcaster]

The admin side of phpBB gives one a lot of control, and this is all based on permissions and group assignments. You should visit the phpBB site and read up on the documentation and visit their forums. Getting your arms around how permissions and groups setups in this package can make your head spin a bit at first, but once you get a grasp on the concepts then you should be good.

You may want to consider installing WAMP or MAMP to your local system and download phpBB there and play with it. Create test users on both your test and live system to make sure it's where you want it before you release it to the public. I've been using Chester Tester for years for things like this. Another person I know uses Joe Dirtbag. They can be modified, deleted and recreated with ease.

Another key point in to keep up to date with releases. Nobody has yet to write a CMS that is 100% secure, and patches are made frequently.

Also, make frequent (spelled daily) backups of your site and download those backups to your local computer. There is an option in cPanel to make a complete backup of your site, including the database. This can be used to recover to that point in the case of a bad hack or catastrophic server failure. Bluehost is under no obligation to back up your files, however they can restore to something a few weeks old.

Make sure your PC is secure with anti-virus software.

Get ssh set up so you can log into your site and cPanel securely and also using an ftp client that supports sftp. Filezilla is good and works on all platforms.

At the end of the day, you are still never completely safe. Hackers are always discovering new vulnerabilities.

Enjoy!

[JND]

Cool thanks, good to know. I've seen the horror stories of spammers taking control of forums. Does the admin side give me plenty of control to prevent all this?

Nothing is preventable. That said, you can limit the potential for intrusion by being vigilant in maintaining that whatever you decide to install is kept as up-to-date as possible and that you leave no "open doors" such as lax permissions or outdated scripts available.

DO NOT RELY ON ANYONE TO INFORM YOU IF AND WHEN AN UPDATE IS NECESSARY.

It is your website and your responsibility to maintain a safe and secure web space. Visit the script provider homepage regularly to verify versions and update as warranted. It's also a good idea to join those communities and get yourself on a subscriber mailing list, if one exists.

A good idea toward that end is to create a folder of bookmarks dedicated solely to scripts you have running on your website with a link to each respective forum/community area and check them weekly for updates and other pertinent information.

Taking these few steps will go a long way in keeping your site as secure as possible.