Arctic Documentation - Installation

The Arctic setup procedure is entirely web based and required minimal knowledge of web server configuration. The setup system will guide you through the entire process and this section of the documentation will explain each option.

Obtaining a License

Arctic has both a free license and a paid licenses available so you can use Arctic for free for as long as you wish before upgrading to a fully paid version. You can find out about the options on the product page.

Ordering Arctic

To use Arctic, you must proceed through the order process to register for a license. This usually takes no more than a minute, after which you will have direct access to Arctic. The procedure is as follows:

  1. Decide which license you wish to use, then proceed to the first page of the order system. Click the Continue button on the right of the Arctic box.
  2. Choose which license you wish to order and click the Continue button.
  3. Choose any optional extras you would like. These include assisted installation from Arctic and the rights to remove the credit line from the footer templates. Then click Continue.
  4. Review your order and read the Terms and Conditions (tick the box to indicate your agreement).
  5. If you already have Arctic Account, login using your username and password. Otherwise, fill out the fields under the Create New Account heading. Click Continue or Register.
  6. If you ordered a paid license, you will now either be asked to proceed to make payment via PayPal or directly with us with Credit/Debit card otherwise you will be informed that your license is ready. Continue from the Downloading Arctic section below. If you created a new account you will be required to confirm your e-mail address before being able to login.

Downloading Arctic

Once you have ordered a license, you must login the Customer System to access it. When you are logged in, click on the Licenses option on the sub menu to list your licenses. Find your Arctic license and click View. If this is the first time you have viewed the license, you will be asked to read and agree to the terms and conditions. Once you have done so, you will be able to see the details of your license.

While the vast majority of the Arctic files are fully-customizable source code, a handfull of Arctic files are encoded to prevent piracy, so using theionCube Loaders will be required. These are free and easy to install but should you have any questions, you should contact your web hosting company.

Download

  • Zip Package (ionCube Encoded)
    This package provides access to all the files and templates related to the product and the files which are protected are encoded using the ionCube Encoding system.

Uploading Arctic

Once you have downloaded the Arctic package, you need to upload the files to your web hosting account. Extract the zip package to your local system and upload the directory using your favourite FTP client. You can rename the directory name to whatever you wish.

NOTE: Since SOME of the files are encoded, you need to upload files in BINARY MODE in your FTP client.

Web Based Setup Process

To access the web based setup, use your web browser to navigate to the location where you uploaded Arctic. For example, if your website address is http://www.example.com and you uploaded Arctic into the directory called bugs/, you would go to http://www.example.com/bugs. You will automatically be redirected to the setup system.

If any part of this process fails or you quit, your data will be remembered and next time you access the setup, you will be returned to where you last were.

Step 1: License Agreement

Arctic is a commercial application and as such, you must agree to the license agreement before using the product. This is the same agreement that you agreed before viewing your license details in the section above. The agreement itself is revised and updated every so often and the latest version can always be found online. Please be sure that you have read it before choosing the I Agree option in the setup process.

Step 2: System Requirements

There are certain minimum requirements for you to use Arctic. These are checked during the setup procedure and you will be advised if your system does not meet those requirements. They are:

  • PHP 4.3.0 or above with socket functions or cURL enabled (see below)
  • MySQL 4.0.x or above (see below)
  • ionCube Loaders

If you are unsure as to whether your system meets these requirements, it will be tested during the installaton process.

During development, we test Arctic on the latest Generally Available (GA) releases from MySQL. At present, this is version 4.1.x and 5.0.x and as such, Arctic officially supports MySQL 4.1 and 5.0 (MySQL 4.0.x is also supported). Although they may be compatible, Arctic does not officially support MySQL 3.x or 5.1.x. Future versions of Arctic may break compatibility with the older MySQL releases so we recommend upgrading to MySQL 5.0.x as soon as possible.

If your system meets all the requirements, click the continue link. Otherwise, you may need to speak to your web host to resolve any incompatibilities.

Step 3: Product Key

Every installation of Arctic requires a product key so we can verify that you do indeed have a license. This is used primarily to differentiate between free and paid licenses. Enter your license key into the field, and click Continue. Your key can be found on the View page when viewing your license details in the Customer System as explained in the section above.

Step 4: Database Settings

Arctic uses the MySQL database system to store all the data. Here you must provide access details to your database server and the name of the database that Arctic will store its data within. Arctic will not create the user or database so they must already exist. If you are unsure of your access details, you should contact your web host.

The table prefix allows you to differentiate the Arctic tables from other applications, or multiple instances of Arctic. The prefix will be prepended to each table name, with the default being arctic_. You can usually leave this to its default value.

If you are reinstalling Arctic you can have the setup remove any existing Arctic tables (only Arctic tables are removed) by ticking the appropriate box.

Click Continue when you are ready. If Arctic cannot connect to the database, you will be informed.

Step 5: Site Configuration

Arctic has very few configuration options but the most important must be set during the setup process. Each of these options can be changed at any time after the installation.

Provide a name for the site that will appear in the title and in outgoing e-mails. The site URL will be automatically detected. You will also need to create a default admin user. The Admin E-Mail Address also acts as the address e-mails are sent from and error reports are sent to.

When you have filled out the fields, click Continue.

Step 6: Pre-installation Summary

Before Arctic is actually installed, you will be provided with a summary showing all the data you provided so you can double check everything. When you are happy, click the Continue button to perform the installation.

Step 7: Installation Complete

If everything went fine, you will be told that setup was successfull and that you now have to:

  • Delete the setup/ folder

as well as being provided with links to access your new Arctic installation.