• Download the tarball of the osTube Professional Plus Edition from www.ostube.com
• Extract the installation files into the osTube-directory, either by:
  
  
  • copying the tarball to the directory and extract it by using the command
    
    tar xzf ostube_X.X_pro_edt_16.02.2009_15_55.tar.gz
    
    (Attention: All rights for owners/groups of all the files have to remain the same.)
  
  
  • extract the tarball to your local computer and transmit the files to the DocumentRoot of your osTube installation via FTP (replace, don't copy)

• A dedicated or virtual server with root access rights is required.


• The OS must be Linux, UNIX or BSD


• The web server should be equipped with at least PHP4, including active command line support.


• Additionally, osTube needs a MySQL data base in order to save data..


• osTube requires additional software programs for media conversion , which are available for free on the internet:
  
  
  • MPlayer (including Mencoder) for video conversion, as well as
  • flvtool2 for the extension of the generated FLV video files into meta-data.
  • For the MPlayer, there is a codec package which can be installed on the server before installing MPlayer. This enables the osTube portal to support almost all popular video formats, and can reliably convert into the Flash video format.

At first you need to check the shell of the server (via SSH) with the command “php-v” if PHP has been compiled for the command line execution. If this leads to an error message, no PHP-CLI has been installed. If the PHP-CLI is installed, this could be an output message:

debian:/usr/src/kernel-source-2.6.8# php -v PHP 5.2.0-8+etch1 (cli) (built: Mar 7 2007 23:34:21)<

The MySQL-extension for the PHP-CLI must be activated so that PHP-CLI has access to the osTube database. You can check this in the following way:

php -r ‘phpinfo();’ | grep mysql

The output should generate for example the following block:

mysql
MYSQL_SOCKET ⇒ /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
MYSQL_INCLUDE ⇒ -I/usr/include/mysql
MYSQL_LIBS ⇒ -L/usr/lib -lmysqlclient
mysql.allow_persistent ⇒ On ⇒ On
mysql.connect_timeout ⇒ 60 ⇒ 60
mysql.default_host ⇒ no value ⇒ no value
mysql.default_password ⇒ no value ⇒ no value
mysql.default_port ⇒ no value ⇒ no value
mysql.default_socket ⇒ no value ⇒ no value
mysql.default_user ⇒ no value ⇒ no value
mysql.max_links ⇒ Unlimited ⇒ Unlimited
mysql.max_persistent ⇒ Unlimited ⇒ Unlimited
mysql.trace_mode ⇒ Off ⇒ Off

If there is no output like that, check:

php -r ‘phpinfo();’ | grep php.ini

This command shows the path to the php.ini file, the configuration file of php that uses the php-cli:

Configuration File (php.ini) Path ⇒ /etc/php5/cli/php.ini

You need to search for:

;extension=mysql.so ;extension=gd.so

Then remove the semicolon in front of those lines and repeat the test with „php -r ‘phpinfo();’ | grep mysql“.
If the mysql article can be found in the output, the PHP_CLI for osTube is now ready for use.
You should be able to open the installation site in your browser, and the red Xs should be gone.

To make osTube work some system resources that partly differ from the standard settings are required. One example is the maximal upload amount.
Some hosts have PHP4 as well as PHP5 installed on their systems and on top of that extra ini-files (one for each version) for the particular CLI binary. In the worst case that means that there are 4 different versions on the server.

At first you should identify the PHP version that is currently used by the web server. osTube supports both versions, so the choice depends on the preferences or on the version currently used by the webserver.

In the php.ini for the CLI alternative you need to guarantee that the MySQL module is loaded:

extension = mysql.so

and comment this line out (see also PHP CLI-configuration)

Search the php.ini for the php-Apache-Module for the following variables:

file_uploads

This value needs to be “On”, that the transfer of data sets is allowed in general.

upload_tmp_dir

This value is standarized /tmp. But some hosts have right restrictions for those folders for security reasons. Because the mencoder will convert the uploaded media within a temporary upload folder, in this case a temp-folder with writing access should be created.

upload_max_filesize

Here, as well as in the POST settings, you have to fill in the maximal data volume for data upload (e.g. 100M).

The largest problem in doing so is usually the following:
The osTube script is uploaded and unpacked by a specific user who only has write privileges in this directory (and applicable subdirectories).
The performing instance during the operation of the portal is not, however, the user who unpacked the file data, but rather the web server process, which is normally Webserver Apache or Apache2.
The Webserver process has to be able to write to the directories. This can be accomplished in several different ways, which vary in their elegance and security.

Alternative 1:
Transfer complete ownership rights of the osTube directory to the Apache webserver process with the following command:

chown -R apache2:apache2 ostube

With this command, the process and user become owners of the osTube system and are allowed to write in the directories. The disadvantage of this method is that the normal FTP no longer possesses permissions and loses the ability to make changes via FTP.

Alternative 2:
This is the more elegant way to guarantee that Apache2 as well as the FTP user get writing authorization within the osTube folder structure.

To realize this, it is necessary to guarantee that the FTP user and Apache are members of the same group, which have writing access in the osTube directory structure.

There is one group that generally has writing access in the document root of the web server (or at least should), in fact the one that is in responsible for the Apache server. The name of this group can differ according to the Linux version.

Debian, for example, calls this group www-data. Older versions like SuSe 9 may simply have the group “apache”.
The following approach illustrates the procedure based on a Debian system with apache2:
chgrp -R www-data ostube (changes the group mapping)

Glossar:
-R: recursive: That means, chgrp is not just applied to the osTube directory, but also applied to complete directory tree underneath osTube.

www-data: group name

ostube – directory/folder that is addressed

Result: Group rights of ostube can be assumed by the group www-data.

useradd -G www-data jerry (adds the user „jerry“ to the group www-data)

Result: the example user jerry is a member of the group www-data.

• Now login at the server as root via SSH


• Copy the data sets:
  
  • Create a directory for the backup with # mkdir ostube_backup
  • Copy all data with cp -av /ort/meines/ostube /root/ostube-backup (obtains all rights and origins)
  
  
• Create backup of the database (mysqldump)
  
  • Open the directory /root/ostube_backup: # cd /root/backup
  
  
  • oCreate the MySQL-dump: # mysqldump -u databankuser -p --opt databankname > dumpdatasetname
  
  
• To rollback the backup:
  
  • Open /root/ostube_backup
  
  
  • Input the databank with: # mysql -u dbuser -p databankname < dumpdatasetname # insert password
  
  
  • Data rollback: #cp -a * /ort/meines/ostube

As of osTube 2.2 the version number can be found in the meta tags.

Browse your site and right click into the browser, then choose the option “show source code”

You will find an entry like:

.... content="osTube Media CMS by AUVICA GmbH v.2.2" />";

Since osTube 2.5 the version number can also be found in the admin panel in the upper left corner.

Often this is due to lacking the necessary permissions. Search manually the path to the installed packages locate PROGRAMM and check the permissions. For the executable files such as the mencoder, mplayer etc, permissions 755 (chmod 755) should be set.

If these changes don’t get your installation going, check to see whether perhaps SELinux is installed, which is often shipped with modern Linux editions. This security software can often hinder the start of individual program packages directly out of PHP.

This question is both yes and no.

No: When the required components are not installed, it won’t be possible since these may only be installed via shell.

Yes: If the server admin has already installed these packets or will install them for you, then of course it will be possible to install without root server access.

Hint: The Installation-Service can only be ordered with access to a root server.

No. Particularly if the web server complies with all installation requirements, setting up osTube is simple and straight forward:

After downloading the appropriate files from the osTube website, you need to extract the .tar.gz-archive in the web server directory in which osTube will run. Afterwards you get access to the installation website where all settings can be adjusted.

If, for example, you extracted osTube into the subdirectory “osTube” at www.mydomain.com the access internet address will be the following URL:
http://www.mydomain.com/ostube/index.php
The home page automatically verifies whether the system is already installed, and leads to the installation dialogue.

In general this process will take no longer than 5 minutes if the operating system is one of the systems which are supported by the installer. Otherwise the installation will take as long as the server needs to compile the program.