The General Administration will allow you to perform general board administration tasks. This includes database backup, general board settings, smilies, word censors, and will let you send mass emails to members of your board.
3.2.1: Database Backup and Restore
To backup your database, click Backup Database. In Backup options you should select Full Backup unless you have a specific reason to choose one of the other two. You may include tables not used by phpBB by entering them here. If you enable Gzip Compression, the file will be smaller, but the server will work harder to generate it. Click Start Backup to begin downloading the file.
To restore your database, click Restore Database. Browse to your backup file, and then click Start Restore. The board should return to exactly how it was when the backup was made. Changes in files (MODs, avatars, etc.) will not be affected by this.
3.2.2: General Configuration
This panel is where most of the boards settings and preferences can be changed.
3.2.2.1: General Board Settings
Domain Name – Your domain name, as the end user will see it.
Server Port – This setting should be 80 unless you are sure it should be something else.
Script path – The path from your domain to main phpBB 2.0 files.
Site name – The name of your site. This will appear at the top of the Forum Index page.
Site description – A short description of your site. This will be displayed on the Forum Index page, right below the site name.
Disable board – When Yes, the board is disabled and will not display to anyone. Do not log out before you re-enable the board, or you will not be able to log back in.
Enable account activation – When set to None, a user may log in as soon as he/she registers. When set to User, a user must validate his email address before logging in. The user will be sent an email with an activation link. When the user clicks this link, their account is activated and he/she may log in. When set to Admin, a user’s account must be activated by an administrator. For more information, see 3.5.3 User Management.
Enable visual confirmation – When set to Yes, a user must enter a displayed code in order to register. When set to No, a user may register without any checks. If you are suffering from a large number of automated registrations, you may wish to enable this option to reduce them.
Allow automatic logins – When set to Yes your users will be able to opt to have their login details remembered (using a cookie in their browser) so that they do not need to login on every visit. When set to No, this option will not be available.
Automatic login key expiry – This is the number of days a cookie containing auto-login information will be accepted from the last time the user visited your board. If set to 0 they will never expire, if set to any other number the information will expire after that number of days.
User email via board – When enabled, users may email each other through a special form on the board. This keeps a user’s email private, and prevents spam bots from gathering email addresses. When this is disabled, user’s email address will be shown.
Flood Interval – This is the number of seconds a user must wait after posting before he can post again. This feature is meant to prevent users/scripts from flooding the board with posts.
Topics Per Page – This controls how many topics of a forum will be displayed on the View Forum page. Additional topics can be seen by advancing to the next page of the forum.
Posts Per Page – This controls how many posts of a topic will be displayed on the View Topic page. Additional posts can be seen by advancing to the next page of the topic.
Posts for Popular Threshold – When a topic gets many posts, the topic icon will change to indicate that the topic is popular. This setting will allow you to set the number of posts a topic must have to be considered popular.
Default Style – this is the default style when a new user registers. It will also be the style for anonymous users.
Override user style – When enabled, the user’s style setting will not apply. All users will see the default style.
Default Language – This language will be the default when a new user registers. It will also be the language for anonymous users. The board language only affects board messages, not anything entered by users.
Date Format – This is the date format that will be default when a new user registers. It will also be the format used for anonymous users. The date format for the board should have syntax identical to the syntax PHP’s date() function uses. For more information, see 4.7.1 Date Format.
Enable GZip Compression – When this is enabled, the server will compress the pages before sending them. This will increase the server workload, but will decrease bandwidth usage.
Enable Forum Pruning – Forum auto-pruning will only work when this is enabled (for more information, see 3.1.1.5 Auto-Prune). Normal pruning will always work (for more information, see 3.1.3 Pruning).
3.2.2.2: Cookie Settings
Cookie domain – The domain of the cookie your board creates. Leaving this field blank will often work correctly; if not, you need to determine the correct cookie domain and enter it.
Cookie name – The name of the cookie used by the board. Make sure the name is not the same as any other cookies used on your site.
Cookie path – The cookie path. Leaving this field with the value “/” will often work correctly; if not, determine the correct cookie path and enter it.
Cookie secure – If your board is running on a Secure Socket Layer (SSL), this setting should be enabled. If not, leave it disabled.
Session length – Allows you to set the session length, in seconds. The session length is how long a user will remain logged in while they are idle. For example, suppose you had the session length set to 3600 seconds (one hour). If a user logs in and keeps his/her browser open, he/she will not be logged out automatically until they have been idle (with respect to the board) for longer than an hour.
3.2.2.3: Private Messaging
Private Messaging – This setting will allow you to enable or disable private messages on your board.
Max posts in Inbox – A number that indicates the maximum number of posts allowed in any user’s Inbox. If this number is exceeded, old posts will be removed as new ones come in.
3.2.2.4: User and Forum basic settings
Max number of poll options – You may specify the maximum number of poll options to prevent poll abuse.
Allow HTML – Here you may enable or disable HTML for the entire board. If enabled, users may still choose to disable it in their posts.
Allowed HTML tags – If HTML is enabled, you may specify which tags may be used. This will help prevent users from destroying your page layout with dangerous HTML. You only need to specify the base tag (without angle brackets or closing tags) in order to enable that tag’s use on the board. For example; to allow a user to use Red Text, you would add span to the list of allowed tags.
Allow BBCode – Here you may enable or disable BBCode for the entire board. If enabled, users may still choose to disable it in their posts.
Allow Smilies – Here you may enable or disable Smilies for the entire board. If enabled, users may still choose to disable it in their posts.
Smilies Storage Path – To use smilies, you must specify their location in relation to the phpBB 2.0.0 root directory. So if your Forum Index page is at http://www.cheese.com/phpBB2/index.php and your smilies are located in the folder http://www.cheese.com/phpBB2/images/smiles, then your Smilie Storage Path should be images/smilies.
Allow Signatures – Here you may choose to allow users to include a signature on each of their posts. If this setting is enabled, users may still choose whether or not to include a signature on each of their posts.
Maximum signature length – You may specify the max length of a user’s signature, in characters. The default value is 255 characters.
Allow Username changes – If this setting is enabled, users may change their usernames when they like.
3.2.2.5: Avatar Settings
Enable gallery avatars – Here you may enable or disable the use of gallery avatars on the board. For more information, see 4.7.3 Avatars.
Enable remote avatars – Here you may enable or disable the use of gallery avatars on the board. For more information, see 4.7.3 Avatars.
Enable avatar uploading – Here you may enable or disable the use of gallery avatars on the board. For more information, see 4.7.3 Avatars.
Maximum Avatar File Size – You may specify the maximum size of uploaded avatars on your board. The size specified is measured in Bytes, and the default is 6144 (6 kB)
Maximum Avatar Dimensions – You may specify the maximum dimesions for uploaded avatar images on your board. The size specified is in pixels, and the default is 80 x 80.