Drupal 7 Documentation

Hosting note

To install and run Drupal your web host must meet certain minimum requirements. Most web hosts meet these requirements. However, a few stand out by also supporting the Drupal community. If you need a host, consider selecting one of our reviewed web hosts.

Introduction to installation

Drupal provides an installation script that automatically populates database tables and configures the correct settings in the settings.php file. This section covers preparing for installation, running the installation script itself, and the steps that should be done after running the installation script has completed. It also explains how to do a "multi site" installation, where a number of different Drupal sites run off the same code base.
Before proceeding with your first Drupal installation, you should also review the best practices section. For help with Drupal terms, see the glossary page.

Other tools

Some of the steps in the installation process can be performed with tools such as graphical applications for moving files and managing databases or tools that are provided by your hosting service. This documentation focuses on performing tasks at the command line. For information on using other tools, see the documentation that accompanies the application or is provided by your hosting service.

Creating a test site on a local computer

It is considered a good practice to do all development work on a separate test site before making changes to a production site. A test site allows you to evaluate the impact of upgrades, new modules, modifications to themes etc. without causing disruption to your live site. For information about setting up a web server on a local computer, see the Local Server Setup section of the Developing for Drupal guide.

Alternative methods for installation

Some web hosting companies offer "one-click" installations of Drupal, or specific Drupal support. You may be able to locate one on the Drupal hosting page (these hosting companies also support the Drupal project).
There is also information about Drupal distributions, which include installation profiles and pre-packaged distributions of Drupal and modules. These may be of help as well.

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