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Technical requirements

What you need to get started

Quick list

Here is a quick list of what you need to get started with the installation of PrestaShop 1.5.

• A web-host providing the following:
  • PHP 5.2 or later.
  • MySQL 5.0 or later.
  • Better if: Unix hosting, Apache Web Server 1.3 or later, at least 32 Mb of RAM.
• Access codes to your FTP server and your MySQL database (provided by your web-host).
• A text editor.
• A FTP client.
• A Web browser.

Hosting

Finding a host

Before downloading or installing anything, you need to provide a home for your PrestaShop online store. This means its files need to reside on a Web server. You might have a Web server of your own, but it is more likely that you have or will have your shop hosted by an Internet hosting service, which provides you with an online home for a few dollars per month.

You may also want to buy a domain-name for your shop. Many web hosts offer a free domain with every new account, but you could also buy one at an independent domain name registrar.

monthly or yearly fee.

If you've never had a host, here are some that you can trust:

• 1&1: http://www.1and1.com/
• alwaysdata: https://www.alwaysdata.com/
• Bluehost: http://www.bluehost.com/
• DreamHost: http://www.dreamhost.com/
• MediaTemple: http://mediatemple.net/
• OVH: http://www.ovh.com/

There are many more. Ask your friends!

Registering a domain name

You may also want to buy a domain-name for your shop (meaning: mydomainname.com or myonlineshop.net). Many web hosts offer a free domain with every new account, but you could also buy one at an independent domain name registrar, most of the time for a yearly fee.

If you've never bought a domain name, here are some registrar that you can trust:

• Bookmyname: http://www.bookmyname.com/
• Gandi: http://www.gandi.net/
• Namecheap: http://www.namecheap.com/

There are many more. Ask your friends!

Technical requirements

Whichever hosting service you use must have the following components installed on your server space:

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More information is available for system administrators in the System Administrators Guide.

Tools

You will need two tools: a text editor, in order to edit text files, and a FTP client, in order to transfer files from your machine to your server.

Text editor

Here are a few well-known text editors:

• Windows
  • Notepad++: http://notepad-plus-plus.org/
  • UltraEdit: http://www.ultraedit.com/
  • Crimson Editor: http://www.crimsoneditor.com/
• OS X
  • Textmate: http://macromates.com/
  • Coda: http://www.panic.com/coda/
  • Smultron: http://www.peterborgapps.com/smultron/
• Unix/Linux
  • Vim: http://www.vim.org/
  • Emacs: http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/

Note: do NOT use a word processor, such as Microsoft Word or OpenOffice.org Write when editing text files.

FTP client

FTP is short for "File Transfer Protocol", meaning the standard way used to transfer files from a computer to a web-host.

Here are a few well-known FTP client:

• Windows
  • Filezilla: http://filezilla-project.org/
  • WinSCP: http://winscp.net/
  • SmartFTP: http://www.smartftp.com/
• OS X
  • Cyberduck: http://cyberduck.ch/
  • Transmit: http://www.panic.com/transmit/
  • Fetch: http://fetchsoftworks.com/fetch/
• Unix/Linux
  • gFTP: http://gftp.seul.org/
  • cURL: http://curl.haxx.se/

Setting up a local environment

This guide section is mainly targeted at users wishing to install PrestaShop on a remote server/host.

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