I've been looking at integrating Mambo (or Joomla) and phpBB (or SMF)and have a couple tips that will help anyone who wants to do the same.
There are basically two ways you can run these together, stand-alone or integrated.
In stand-alone mode, when you install Mambo (or Joomla) you create a separate SQL database for your forum and Mambo and assign a user and password for each in DirectAdmin. The forum and Mambo each have a separate database and share no information. This is a good setup if you want to run Mambo as your entry page (with a link to enter your forum) and not allow any of your users to change any content in Mambo. All user profile information is handled by your forum. You can have user profiles for Mambo as well, but your users will have to log into each separately (and maintain separate user profiles in each as well).
If you integrate the applications, then they will share user information between them. You can have Mambo or your forum manage the user profiles and the other will share the information. When your user signs in to one, they are automatically signed into the other. There is a small component called a bridge that handles this sharing.
If you want to run stand-alone, you can stop reading now.
Integrating the forums is not as straightforward. One of the requirements is to have one user that can access both your forum database and Mambo database. If you use DirectAdmin, you cannot create multiple databases with the same user. What is the solution? Install your forum first and create the database as normal. As part of the forum install process there is a field for the table prefix. You can use the default (for phpBB the default is phpbb_ and for SMF it is smf_).
After your forum is operational, install Mambo. Just like the forum, Mambo will ask you for the database information. Don't create a new database, but use the same database as your forum. The table prefix must be different than your forum! Mambo, for instance will have mos_ as the table prefix. It is fine to use this default. This will satisfy the bridge between your applications.
You can also run other applications (such as coppermine) as long as they have a bridge to your forum or Mambo as well. The process is the same, point it to your existing database and make sure the table prefix is unique.
If you read the directions for installing these programs, they tell you to create separate databases. This is for better performance. With the amount of bandwidth and storage we have available to us, you will not even come close to having a high enough load to impact performance.
If you made it this far, then I'm sorry to ramble!
And thanks for reading, hope it helps you out.
There are basically two ways you can run these together, stand-alone or integrated.
In stand-alone mode, when you install Mambo (or Joomla) you create a separate SQL database for your forum and Mambo and assign a user and password for each in DirectAdmin. The forum and Mambo each have a separate database and share no information. This is a good setup if you want to run Mambo as your entry page (with a link to enter your forum) and not allow any of your users to change any content in Mambo. All user profile information is handled by your forum. You can have user profiles for Mambo as well, but your users will have to log into each separately (and maintain separate user profiles in each as well).
If you integrate the applications, then they will share user information between them. You can have Mambo or your forum manage the user profiles and the other will share the information. When your user signs in to one, they are automatically signed into the other. There is a small component called a bridge that handles this sharing.
If you want to run stand-alone, you can stop reading now.
Integrating the forums is not as straightforward. One of the requirements is to have one user that can access both your forum database and Mambo database. If you use DirectAdmin, you cannot create multiple databases with the same user. What is the solution? Install your forum first and create the database as normal. As part of the forum install process there is a field for the table prefix. You can use the default (for phpBB the default is phpbb_ and for SMF it is smf_).
After your forum is operational, install Mambo. Just like the forum, Mambo will ask you for the database information. Don't create a new database, but use the same database as your forum. The table prefix must be different than your forum! Mambo, for instance will have mos_ as the table prefix. It is fine to use this default. This will satisfy the bridge between your applications.
You can also run other applications (such as coppermine) as long as they have a bridge to your forum or Mambo as well. The process is the same, point it to your existing database and make sure the table prefix is unique.
If you read the directions for installing these programs, they tell you to create separate databases. This is for better performance. With the amount of bandwidth and storage we have available to us, you will not even come close to having a high enough load to impact performance.
If you made it this far, then I'm sorry to ramble!
And thanks for reading, hope it helps you out.
I'm sorry, I'm just not technical at all...
