Overview

Zen Cart is an online store management system. It is PHP-based, using a MySQL database and HTML components. This article will show you how to install Zen Cart using the 1-Click Applications tool in the AccountCenter.

Instructions

1. Log into your AccountCenter.
2. Click on the primary domain of your (gs) Grid-Service.
3. Click on 1-Click Applications, see Figure 1:

   
   Figure 1. Your (gs) Grid-Service Control Panel.

4. Click on Add New Application:

   
   Figure 2.

5. Click the start button for the Zen Cart Application. See Figure 3:

   
   Figure 3: Click start.

6. Enter your Installation Parameters. See Figure 4:

   
   Figure 4: Fill in your desired URL, a unique database name, and a database table prefix name.

   • Application URL: Choose the exact URL of the domain you wish to use with Zen Cart.
   • Database configuration: Choose new... database from the dropdown menu, and enter a new custom database name.
   • Database table prefix: Enter a database prefix for this application.
7. Click install once you've entered your settings.
8. Wait for the installation to finish. It should take about two minutes. Then, click finish.
9. This will take you to the Zen Cart installer. Follow the on-screen instructions to finish.

Admin area warning

For security reasons, the first time you visit the admin area for Zen Cart, you will see a warning like the one shown in Figure 6:

Figure 6: Default Zen Cart admin area security warning.

This warning contains instructions that you will need to follow in order to securely access the admin area. While this aspect of the installation deals with parameters set by Zen Cart and is not specific to (mt) Media Temple, as a courtesy, we've provided a walkthrough to assist you with securing and accessing your admin area.

The overall goal is to:

1. Delete the zc_install folder.
2. Rename the admin folder.
3. Update your configuration file to include the new name of the admin folder.

Here are the detailed instructions:

1. Log into your server via FTP.
2. Navigate into domains/store.example.com/html/, where example.com is the domain or subdomain that has the Zen Cart installation. If you installed Zen Cart in a subfolder, like http://example.com/cart/, then navigate to domains/example.com/html/cart/ instead.
3. Delete the zc_install folder. This screenshot shows how to do this in FileZilla. Right-click on the folder, then select Delete from the dropdown menu. See Figure 7:

   
   Figure 7: Right-click on the zc_install folder, then select Delete. If you are using different FTP software, please consult their documentation.

   You may notice this takes a few minutes. This is because there are several files and folders to remove.

4. Still in your Zen Cart installation folder (typically html), rename the admin folder. In FileZilla, you can do this by clicking on the folder once to highlight it, then pausing, then clicking the name area. See Figure 8.

   
   Figure 8: Rename your admin folder. Make note of the new name.

   For this example, I have renamed the admin folder to include a string of random characters, admin-9kH. Please choose your own name that is not easily guessable, for security reasons. Make a note of this new name, because you will need it later.

5. The final step involves changing the contents of a file. Navigate into your new admin folder, now admin-9kH in my example. Then navigate into includes. You will see a file called configure.php. Double-click it to download a copy (if you're using FileZilla).
6. Open the configure.php file in a plain text editor on your local computer, such as Notepad on a Windows machine.
7. There are a total of three places where the "admin" folder name needs to be updated to your new name. The Zen Cart documentation has an exact list of these three places:
   • tutorials.zen-cart.com

   Save your changes.

8. Now, go back to your FTP software. You will need to rename the existing configure.php file - I suggest something like configure.php-orig. That way you can go back to it if you need to.
9. Upload your updated configure.php file from your computer.
10. Now, open a browser, and visit your new admin area. You will type the new admin area name after your main URL. For this example, you would go to http://store.example.com/admin-9kH/.

That's it! You should now be able to log into your Zen Cart admin area.

Alternate domain

To configure Zen Cart for an alternate domain, when you get to Step 5, enter the URL for your alternate domain, instead of the primary domain.

Resources

• http://www.zen-cart.com
• Zen-cart FAQ
• Zen-cart Wiki