Hosting panel installers #

This page is for bundlers who write the "Install Exponential" button of a hosting control panel or an application installer. The hosting section has the operator's view in One-click installers for Exponential; this page is the checklist for the person who builds and ships the installer.

Contents #

1. Which installer to call
2. What the installer package contains
3. The install sequence
4. Safety rules
5. What the customer receives
6. Panel notes

Which installer to call #

What the installer package contains #

• The code: a prepared archive of a pinned release built from your lock file, or the commands to fetch it (Getting the code).
• The mapping from the panel's form fields to exp:install options: site URL to --url, e-mail to --email, the database the panel created to --db, --db-host, --db-name, --db-user, the password through EXP_INSTALL_DB_PASSWORD, the site package to --package.
• The web server rules for the panel's server (Web server and engine choices).
• An uninstall description: which files, which database, which cron entries.
• Your notices and the source offer (License texts and notices).

The install sequence #

From What the one click must do:

1. Prepare the account: system user, home directory, PHP-FPM pool or Velocity instance.

2. Prepare the database: nothing for SQLite 3; for a server engine, an empty database and a user that may create tables.

3. Put the code in place.

4. Run the installer as the site's user, never as root, with a dry run first:

   sudo -u <site user> env EXP_INSTALL_DB_PASSWORD='<from your secret store>' \
     php bin/php/console exp:install --dry-run --db=pgsql --db-user=<db user> --url=https://www.example.com
   sudo -u <site user> env EXP_INSTALL_DB_PASSWORD='<from your secret store>' \
     php bin/php/console exp:install --apply --db=pgsql --db-user=<db user> --url=https://www.example.com \
     --email=<customer contact>

5. Serve the site.

6. Install the crontab for runcronjobs.php.

7. Hand over the password and delete var/log/initial-admin-password.

8. Register the site in backups and monitoring.

Safety rules #

• "Never point --db-action=remove at a database that holds data." A one-click installer creates a new, empty database each time.
• Keep secrets off the command line: an option "is visible to every user of the machine in the process list (ps) while the installation runs".
• "Check the exit status. 0 installed, 1 anything failed; on failure maintenance mode stays on, and var/log/setup.log says why."
• "Do not leave install files behind": a kickstart.ini holds passwords in clear text.

Source: Safety rules.

What the customer receives #

• The site address and the administration address.
• The login admin and its password, once, through a secure channel, with advice to change it and create personal accounts (Default credentials and first sign-in).
• The site package you chose, with or without demo content.
• A link to the help in their administration, and to your own support page (Support boundaries).

Panel notes #

The hosting section has a page per panel: Plesk, cPanel, DirectAdmin, ISPConfig, Webmin, and on PHP selection and FPM pools and Cron and shell access. Whether a particular app-installer catalog lists Exponential is not documented here; ask its vendor.

Related pages #

• One-click installers for Exponential
• Automating provisioning
• Unattended install with exp:install
• Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.