A Content Management System (CMS) allows developers to build advanced web applications with convenience. It provides several built-in features to facilitate the development of various complex functions. Besides saving time for the developers, it also reduces their dev load, enabling them to concentrate on different operations.
October CMS is an award-winning self-hosted CMS based on Laravel PHP framework. It is one of the leading CMS platforms in the market with a large community of users worldwide. It provides innovative web features that facilitate developers to build enterprise-level applications. Moreover, installing October CMS is easy, even for beginners.
Discover October CMS’s unparalleled power and versatility as you follow this step-by-step guide to installing the platform on Cloudways. Explore the key features that make October CMS a leading player in the crowded CMS market before diving into the seamless installation process.
But first of all, let’s discuss the key October CMS features that make it one of the leading CMS solutions in the market:
October CMS Features
Get a glimpse of what sets October CMS apart from the rest with these must-know features. Discover why October CMS is fast becoming a favorite among developers and content creators alike
Simple Templating Engine
October CMS uses Twig as its premiere templating language. It is specifically built to help web designers create stunning web designs quickly. The platform provides complete documentation for Twig so that developers can easily get started. It is easy to use and provides several pre-built features to simplify the web designing process.
Innovative Platform Built With Advanced Tools
October CMS is built on Laravel – one of the most advanced PHP frameworks in the market. It helps to create optimized web applications with complex core functions. Moreover, the CMS provides various flexible features to customize the functionality of various operations based on the projects’ requirements.
Nothing as Easy as Deploying October CMS Apps on Cloud
With Cloudways, you can have your October apps up and running on managed cloud servers in just a few minutes.
Extensible Platform
October CMS is an extensible platform that allows users to easily extend the functionality of CMS via plugins. You can install different plugins in the platform and use them according to your application’s needs. This makes it quite a handy CMS to build enterprise-level applications, as it allows administrators to customize the CMS per the project requirements.
Quick Scaffolding
October CMS provides a free builder plugin that helps users create fully-functional plugin scaffolding. It can manage the plugin’s database structure, create its backend user interface, etc., as per requirements. In short, it helps developers create plugin workflows in just a few minutes.
Manage Applications without Programming
October CMS is quite simple to use, even for non-technical users. The platform provides a unique WYSIWYG editor that helps non-technical people edit and manage images/videos from the dashboard. It also allows users to edit website menus from the same visual interface, enabling non-programmers to quickly understand and work on website basics efficiently.
Why Choose Cloudways for October CMS?
Cloudways is among the best-managed cloud and CMS hosting providers. It has partnered with five of the biggest cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Engine (GCE), DigitalOcean, Linode, and Vultr.
Cloudways stands out from other platforms by offering a user-friendly dashboard for quickly launching and managing applications. Its intuitive dashboard helps users quickly set up server resources, including storage size, memory, bandwidth, and location, eliminating the need for technical expertise.
For those using October CMS, Cloudways provides a pre-configured Composer, streamlining the installation process and enabling efficient operation of the CMS in just a matter of minutes. The platform also offers powerful performance monitoring tools, allowing users to monitor server and application performance regularly.
Cloudways Features
Here are the major Cloudways features that make it a leading managed cloud hosting platform in the market:Cloudways stands out as a leading managed cloud hosting platform due to its extensive range of features, including:
- Cloudways provides a prebuilt stack of tools called Thunderstack. It comprises all the major web optimization tools like Varnish cache, Redis, PHP-FPM, and several others.
- Cloudways facilitates quick installation of major PHP-based applications, including WordPress, Magento, Laravel, and others.
- Cloudways provides FREE Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates to secure application data from malicious web attacks.
- All Cloudways servers come up with a unique staging environment helping developers to test applications for bugs before live deployment.
- The platform provides several advanced monitoring tools to monitor the performance of applications and take appropriate actions when required.
Installing October CMS on Cloudways
To begin with this October CMS tutorial, you are first required to sign up on the Cloudways Platform. Cloudways offers a free three-day trial period for the new users, and also provides 24/7 tech support to assist the customers in server and app installation processes.
Prerequisites
To install October CMS, you must consider fulfilling the following system requirements:
- Web server compatible with PHP (Apache, Nginx or IIS)
- Latest PHP Version 8.0 or above.
- A non-root user with Sudo privileges.
- MySQL 5.7 or higher/MariaDB Version 10.2 or above
Step 1: Launch a New Server
Once the signup process is complete, to launch a new server. Just select the Custom App from the applications drop-down and then select your desired Cloud provider from the list. After that, select the server size and location as per project needs, and click Launch Now.
Once the server is launched, go to the Application Settings section under the Application Management menu. Change the application folder name to “October cms.”
Step 2: Upgrade PHP Version on The New Server .
You can easily upgrade your current PHP version to the latest version on Cloudways by following the steps below:
- Login to the Cloudways Platform.
- Select your server.
- You’ll be redirected to the Server Management
- Click Settings & Packages > Packages.
- Select PHP 8.2 from the drop-down menu
Step 3: Download October CMS
Now, navigate to the Server Management menu and open the Master Credentials section. Note the login credentials mentioned there, and launch the SSH terminal.
Once you have logged in to the SSH terminal, navigate to the directory where you want to install October CMS and remove all the existing files using the rm index.php command.
composer create-project october/october .
Then, execute the following command to download October CMS.
Install October CMS and follow the prompts. A valid license key is required for this step. Hint: you can find MySQL database name and credentials on the Cloudways Application Settings / Access Details page.
php artisan october:install
Now visit the Cloudways dashboard, open your application staging URL, and Launch October CMS:
Click the Backend Area button in the top menu and create a new account for logging in to the Administration Area:
Congratulations, you have successfully installed October CMS!
Please ensure to review the instructions provided in the October CMS installation guide to properly configure your installation and address any potential issues.
Final Words
This brings us to the end of this article which presents in detail the complete installation of October CMS on Cloudways managed hosting platform. It is one of the most advanced CMS platforms available in the market, and is used by thousands of developers to build enterprise-level applications.
It has a huge user community that regularly contributes towards the advancement of the CMS through plugins, themes, and other components. It is indeed a great PHP based CMS for beginners as it provides various documentation and tutorials to help them get started with the platform easily.
If you have further questions regarding this article, please feel free to ask them in the comments section below.
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Shahzeb Ahmed
Shahzeb is a Digital Marketer with a Software Engineering background, works as a Community Manager — PHP Community at Cloudways. He is growth ambitious and aims to learn & share information about PHP & Laravel Development through practice and experimentation. He loves to travel and explore new ideas whenever he finds time. Get in touch with him at [email protected]
