Skip to content

DEPLOYMENT.md

Latest commit

 

History

History
97 lines (75 loc) · 4.62 KB

DEPLOYMENT.md

File metadata and controls

97 lines (75 loc) · 4.62 KB
Raw

AutoPulse — Deployment Guide (InfinityFree + general Apache hosting)

1. Local development

  1. Install XAMPP/WAMP/Laragon (or any Apache + PHP 8 + MySQL stack).
  2. Copy this project folder into htdocs (e.g. C:\xampp\htdocs\autopulse).
  3. Start Apache + MySQL, open phpMyAdmin → create database autopulse → import sql/database.sql.
  4. Edit config/config.php with your local DB credentials.
  5. Browse http://localhost/autopulse and log in at /admin/login.php.
    • Change the default passwords immediately (Admin → Users).

Quick alternative without Apache (from the project folder):

php -S localhost:8000 router-dev.php

2. Prepare the database

  • sql/database.sql contains schema + demo data. The CREATE DATABASE line is commented out because most shared hosts (InfinityFree included) pre-create the database for you.
  • Optionally strip the demo INSERT statements and keep only the schema.

3. Set up InfinityFree

  1. Create a free account at infinityfree.com and add a domain/subdomain.
  2. In the client area open MySQL Databases, create a database, and note:
    • MySQL Host Name (e.g. sql123.infinityfree.com)
    • Database Name (e.g. if0_12345678_autopulse)
    • Username (e.g. if0_12345678) and the password you set
  3. Open phpMyAdmin from the client area, select your database, and import sql/database.sql.

4. Upload the files

  1. Download/install FileZilla.
  2. FTP settings (from InfinityFree client area → FTP Accounts):
    • Host: ftpupload.net · Port: 21 · Explicit FTP over TLS
    • Username: your if0_… account · Password: your FTP password
  3. Upload everything inside this project folder into /htdocs (upload the contents, not the folder itself, if the site should run on the domain root).
  4. Make sure these folders exist and are uploaded: uploads/*, cache/, assets/.

5. Configure

Edit config/config.php on the server (or edit before uploading):

define('APP_ENV', 'production');
define('BASE_URL', '');                    // '' when installed at htdocs root
define('DB_HOST', 'sqlXXX.infinityfree.com');
define('DB_NAME', 'if0_12345678_autopulse');
define('DB_USER', 'if0_12345678');
define('DB_PASS', 'your-db-password');

Then in the admin panel set Settings → General and SEO → Canonical site URL (e.g. https://yoursite.com) so canonical tags, Open Graph and the sitemap use absolute URLs.

6. HTTPS

  1. In the InfinityFree client area, enable the free SSL certificate for your domain (may take a few minutes to issue; for custom domains, point CNAME first).
  2. After the certificate is active, uncomment the "Force HTTPS" block at the bottom of .htaccess. ⚠️ Do not enable it before the certificate works or visitors will get warnings.

7. Post-install checklist

  • Log in at https://yoursite.com/admin/login.php
  • Change the admin & editor passwords (Users)
  • Settings → General: site name, tagline, logo, currency, hero image
  • Settings → Contact & Social: email/phone/address/socials
  • SEO: default meta description, canonical URL, Analytics ID, Search Console verification
  • Ads: paste your AdSense code into the slots you plan to use
  • Visit https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml and https://yoursite.com/robots.txt
  • Submit the sitemap in Google Search Console
  • Test a car page, an article, the compare tool, search suggestions and the contact form
  • Test the site on your phone (menu, compare table, cards)
  • Delete any demo content you don't want (drafts are harmless, published demo articles are visible)
  • Create a database backup (Admin → Backup) once your real content is in

8. Troubleshooting

Symptom Fix
"Database connection failed" Wrong credentials in config/config.php; on InfinityFree use the exact host from the client area
404 on all inner pages .htaccess missing or mod_rewrite disabled — re-upload .htaccess (hidden file!)
Blank/500 pages Set APP_ENV to development temporarily to see the error, then back to production
Uploads fail File bigger than the host limit (10 MB on InfinityFree) or uploads/ not uploaded
Stale menus/settings Admin → Backup → Clear cache
Images not appearing uploads/ folder or files missing on the server

9. Updating

  1. Take a backup (Admin → Backup → download .sql).
  2. Upload changed files over the existing ones (keep config/config.php, uploads/ and cache/).
  3. If sql/database.sql changed structurally, apply the new schema via phpMyAdmin (a fresh import into a new database is the safest path — then re-point config.php).