Install CS-Cart on Ubuntu 16.04 | 17.10 | 18.04 with Apache2, MariaDB and PHP 7.2 Support

CS-Cart is a powerful eCommerce platform for online sellers to sell and manage their product inventories. It has all you need to create and manage an online store, with its powerful product management modules…

If you’re looking for a high performance, SEO-friendly eCommerce CMS platform, you’ll find CS-Cart to be useful. This brief tutorial is going to show students and new users how to install CS-Cart on Ubuntu 16.04 / 17.10 and 18.04 LTS with Apache2, MariaDB and PHP support.

This post covers installing the latest version of CS-Cart, which at the time of writing was at version 4.7.4.

To get started with installing CS-Cart, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Install Apache2

CS-Cart requires a webserver to function and the most popular webserver in use today is Apache2. So, go and install Apache2 on Ubuntu by running the commands below:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install apache2

After installing Apache2, run the commands below to disable directory listing.

sudo sed -i "s/Options Indexes FollowSymLinks/Options FollowSymLinks/" /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

Next, run the commands below to stop, start and enable Apache2 service to always start up with the server boots.

sudo systemctl stop apache2.service
sudo systemctl start apache2.service
sudo systemctl enable apache2.service

Step 2: Install MariaDB

CS-Cart also requires a database server to function.. and MariaDB database server is a great place to start. To install it run the commands below.

sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client

After installing MariaDB, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable MariaDB service to always start up when the server boots..

Run these on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

sudo systemctl stop mysql.service
sudo systemctl start mysql.service
sudo systemctl enable mysql.service

Run these on Ubuntu 17.10 and 18.04 LTS

sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service
sudo systemctl start mariadb.service
sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service

After that, run the commands below to secure MariaDB server by creating a root password and disallowing remote root access.

sudo mysql_secure_installation

When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.

Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter
Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
New password: Enter password
Re-enter new password: Repeat password
Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y
Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y
Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]: Y
Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]: Y

Restart MariaDB server

sudo systemctl restart mariadb.service

Step 3: Install PHP and Related Modules

PHP 7.2 may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories… in order to install it, you will have to get it from third-party repositories.

Run the commands below to add the below third party repository to upgrade to PHP 7.2

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php

Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.2

sudo apt update

Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2 and related modules.

sudo apt install php7.2 libapache2-mod-php7.2 php7.2-common php7.2-sqlite3 php7.2-curl php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-mysql php7.2-gd php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-zip

After installing PHP 7.2, run the commands below to open PHP default config file for Apache2…

sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/apache2/php.ini

Then make the changes on the following lines below in the file and save. The value below are great settings to apply in your environments.

file_uploads = On
allow_url_fopen = On
short_open_tag = On
memory_limit = 256M
upload_max_filesize = 100M
max_execution_time = 360
date.timezone = America/Chicago

After making the change above, save the file and close out.

Step 4: Create CS-Cart Database

Now that you’ve install all the packages that are required, continue below to start configuring the servers. First run the commands below to create CS-Cart database.

Run the commands below to logon to the database server. When prompted for a password, type the root password you created above.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then create a database called cscart

CREATE DATABASE cscart;

Create a database user called cscartuser with new password

CREATE USER 'cscartuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';

Then grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON cscart.* TO 'cscartuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Step 5: Download CS-Cart Latest Release

Next, visit CS-Cart site and register for a free account. You must register before you’re allowed to download a copy.

https://www.cs-cart.com/download-cs-cart.html

After downloading, run the commands below to extract the download file into Apache2 root directory.

sudo mkdir /var/www/html/cscart
sudo unzip cscart_v4.7.4.zip -d /var/www/html/cscart

Then run the commands below to set the correct permissions for CS-Cart to function.

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/cscart/
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/cscart/

Step 6: Configure Apache2

Finally, configure Apahce2 site configuration file for CS-Cart. This file will control how users access CS-Cart content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called cscart.conf

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/cscart.conf

Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your own domain name and directory root location.

<VirtualHost *:80>
     ServerAdmin admin@example.com
     DocumentRoot /var/www/html/cscart/
     ServerName example.com
     ServerAlias www.example.com

     <Directory /var/www/html/cscart/>
        Options FollowSymlinks
        AllowOverride All
        Order allow,deny
        allow from all
     </Directory>

     ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
     CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

</VirtualHost>

Save the file and exit.

Step 7: Enable the CS-Cart and Rewrite Module

After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below

sudo a2ensite cscart.conf
sudo a2enmod rewrite

Step 8 : Restart Apache2

To load all the settings above, restart Apache2 by running the commands below.

sudo systemctl restart apache2.service

Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name followed by install. You should see CS-Cart setup wizard to complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.

http://example.com/

Then enter the database information as well as the site administrator login credentials, then click Install

Wait and CS-Cart should install successfully. Login and begin using your program.

Enjoy!