WARNING:
RavenCore is designed to be installed on fresh systems. If your server already has a different control panel, or was configured manually to host domains, RavenCore WILL NOT detect them, and you will have lots of problems with those settings no longer being in place.

Once you have downloaded the rpm package, go ahead and install it:

# rpm -Uvh ravencore-0.3.2-1.noarch.rpm

Non-RPM distributions can install with the tarball:

# tar -xzf ravencore-0.3.2.tar.gz ; make build ; make install

Here is a list of base packages you will need (don’t worry about version numbers, RavenCore is very flexible)

• php
• mysql (sometimes called mysql-client)
• mysql-server
• httpd (apache)
• perl
• bash ( a system shell. comes pre-packaged on most systems )

Here is a list of perl modules you will need:

• DBI
• POSIX
• Socket
• MIME::Base64

Other packages that are needed for certain functions to work, but are not necessary for RavenCore to be installed:

• mod_ssl (SSL module for apache, needed to run RavenCore in SSL mode)
• openssl (to generate SSL certs so RavenCore can run in SSL mode)
• php-imap (so webmail works)
• php-mysql (so phpMyAdmin works)

RavenCore is being designed to work with modules, so it detects what software you have installed, and gives controls for them. So if certain things aren’t installed, they will not appear in the control panel (postfix for mail, bind for DNS, etc)

postfix mail server
dovecot POP3/IMAP server
vsftpd FTP server
bind DNS server
amavisd-new Controls the anti-spam/virus software
spamassassin Anti-spam for mail
clamd Anti-virus for mail

NOTE:
If at all possible, use your distribution’s standard packages for software. If you did a “make install” from source, it’s likely that RavenCore will not detect it, and you will have to manually tweak a configuration file. On systems with online installers such as yum or apt-get, you should run it with all these packages, for example:

# yum install httpd php mysql-server mod_ssl openssl postfix dovecot vsftpd spamassassin bind

or

# apt-get install httpd php mysql-server mod_ssl openssl postfix dovecot vsftpd spamassassin bind

Use “yum” or “up2date” for RedHat systems, “apt-get” for Debian systems, “yast” for SuSE, “swup” for Trustix, and “urpmi” for Mandrake.

NOTE:
Different distributions may call packages by slightly different names. For example, RedHat calls apache “httpd”, while debian may call it “apache” or “apache2″, and mandrake may call it “httpd2″. RedHat calls php “php”, and SuSE calls it either “php4″ or “php5″. There are many other differences not mentioned here.

So if you are unable to find a package, the website rpm.pbone.net is a good place to search
Dag Wieer’s website is a good website for redhat linux systems to get RPMs (RHEL, CentOS, Fedora)

Now after you have all the desired packages installed, go ahead and start the control panel:

# service ravencore start

or

# /etc/init.d/ravencore start

NOTE:
This is where most of the install magic happens. It will figure out how to access the mysql server ( it will start it if it is not already running ), install the database, and make sure all of the permissions are correct for the control panel to run. It will create SSL certificates if you are going to run in SSL mode.

If you are upgrading RavenCore, this will check your database integrity and make changes to the tables if any need to be made since the last version.

NOTE:
Logging into the control panel right after you upgrade is very important, even if there were no new configuration variables to add, because the last of the upgrade steps happen when you first login after an upgrade.

If this is your first time installing RavenCore, be sure you set your admin password before you login. You can do this by running this as root:

# /usr/local/ravencore/sbin/run_cmd passwd

Once the install / upgrade process is completed, and the control panel is running, go to: http://your_ip:8000 or https://your_ip:8080

Now you see a login screen, login with the username “admin” and the password you set for it.

Once you log in, new installations will require you to change the password. Must be at least 5 characters, and not a dictionary word! (and you can’t keep ravencore as the password)

Then, read the terms of use (RavenCore is under the GNU GPL License) and state that you accept.

Finally, server settings. We highly recommend that you leave the defaults in, and simply click the submit button at the bottom. But if you’re feeling bold, go ahead and edit what is there.

Now you’re done installing RavenCore! Enjoy!