Magento Development: Magento Setup with Secure Shell (SSH):

Posted on October 1, 2012 by zestadmin

Magento Development is increasing by leaps and bounds. With a view to develop an elegant ecommerce store, Magento is most popular.

In this article, we will know how to install the most recent Magento versions using the code via SSH. This will also include the process of Magento installation with or without specimen data.

Here, we will discuss Magento installation with or without sample information in the main directory or sub directory. The main directory refers to what appears right away while accessing the domain. By default, magento is installed in the sub directory.

With SSH, Magento Setup can be quick and simple. It works best when used to frame up an entire store with sample facts and figures. This type of establishment requires 40MB of data to be downloaded and then re upload to the website. SSH provides the benefit of connecting to the server to capture the files.

Below mentioned are some of the ways to download Magento with SSH:

Magento Setup in the Web Directory (Document root):

wget http://www.magentocommerce.com/downloads/assets/1.7.0.2/magento-1.7.0.2.tar.gz
tar -zxvf magento-1.7.0.2.tar.gz
mv magento/* magento/.htaccess .
chmod -R o+w media var
chmod o+w app/etc

Along with the setup, we have to delete the downloaded file and empty the directory from the extracted files:

rm -rf magento/ magento-1.7.0.2.tar.gz

After applying this SSH Code, the web based installation process is to be followed.

Using Pear Downloader to install Magento in the Website Document Root:-

To ease the Magento Development process and with a view to get the latest Magento version installed conveniently, Pear Downloader is the best option. It has an intelligible mechanism to download recent magento versions. Being a minor download, it is updated less frequently as compared to the complete magento package.

Magento Setup in sub directory:

It’s very easy, just replace the current “subdirectory “twice with the name of the subdirectory in which Magento is to be installed.

mkdir SUBDIRECTORY
cd SUBDIRECTORY
wget http://www.magentocommerce.com/downloads/assets/1.7.0.0/magento-downloader-1.7.0.0.tar.gz
tar -zxvf magento-downloader-1.7.0.0.tar.gz
rm -rf magento-downloader-1.7.0.0.tar.gz

Magento Setup with Sample Data:

Installing Magento with Sample data is beneficial to the business owners who wish to get accustomed with Magento and know how products and categories are setup in the store.

Again, here it can be established either in root directory or sub directory:

Magento Setup in Main Directory:

It is very similar to installing magento without data in subdirectory as mentioned above. Here, directory name is not required to be known. The things that are to be replaced are: DBHOST, DBNAME, DBUSER and DBPASS.

wget http://www.magentocommerce.com/downloads/assets/1.7.0.2/magento-1.7.0.2.tar.gz
tar -zxvf magento-1.7.0.2.tar.gz
wget http://www.magentocommerce.com/downloads/assets/1.6.1.0/magento-sample-data-1.6.1.0.tar.gz
tar -zxvf magento-sample-data-1.6.1.0.tar.gz
mv magento-sample-data-1.6.1.0/media/* magento/media/
mv magento-sample-data-1.6.1.0/magento_sample_data_for_1.6.1.0.sql magento/data.sql
mv magento/* magento/.htaccess* .
chmod -R o+w media var
mysql -h DBHOST -u DBUSER -pDBPASS DBNAME
chmod o+w var var/.htaccess app/etc
rm -rf magento/ magento-sample-data-1.6.1.0/ magento-1.7.0.2.tar.gz magento-sample-data-1.6.1.0.tar.gz data.sql

Magento Setup in Sub directory:

Five main points are to be kept in mind before carrying out this process. These are as follows:

Name of Subdirectory in which Magento installation is to be done.
Hostname of Database, for which local host works.
Database name which is to be used by magento.
Username which has access to the database.
Password of the User.

After getting this information, it is to be copied and replaced with the information in the commands.

In other words, we can say the subdirectory, where Magento is to be setup will be replaced twice as above and also DBHOST, DBNAME, DBUSER and DBPASS are changed.

mkdir SUBDIRECTORY
cd SUBDIRECTORY
wget http://www.magentocommerce.com/downloads/assets/1.7.0.0/magento-downloader-1.7.0.0.tar.gz
wget http://www.magentocommerce.com/downloads/assets/1.6.1.0/magento-sample-data-1.6.1.0.tar.gz
tar -zxvf magento-downloader-1.7.0.0.tar.gz
tar -zxvf magento-sample-data-1.6.1.0.tar.gz
mv magento-sample-data-1.6.1.0/media/* magento/media/
mv magento-sample-data-1.6.1.0/magento_sample_data_for_1.6.1.0.sql magento/data.sql
mv magento/* magento/.htaccess .
chmod -R o+w media
mysql -h DBHOST -u DBUSER -pDBPASS DBNAME
./pear mage-setup .
./pear install magento-core/Mage_All_Latest-stable
touch var/.htaccess | mkdir app/etc
chmod o+w var var/.htaccess app/etc
rm -rf downloader/pearlib/cache/* downloader/pearlib/download/*
rm -rf magento/ magento-sample-data-1.6.1.0/
rm -rf magento-downloader-1.7.0.0.tar.gz magento-sample-data-1.6.1.0.tar.gz data.sql

Finishing the Installation via Web Based Installer:

Once the Magento installation via SSH is completed, the business owners can proceed with web based installer. All database details will remain same in that as well.

This work can also be carried out using Command Line Interface (CLI) instead.

Alternatively, SSH script can also be used to automate both the main steps as well as CLI installer.

Trouble Shooting:

Magento Development is not a child’s play. To sort out the issues faced while installing magento, certain recommendations can be followed which are as follows:

Incorrect or Insufficient Permissions:

If any problem persists due to incorrect permissions then it can be sort out using the below mentioned commands:

find. -type f -exec chmod 644 {} ;
find. -type d -exec chmod 755 {} ;

Using this command will provide 644 permissions to files and 755 permissions to the directories.

URL not available :

If any error message is received stating the unavailability of URL, then it can be solved as following:

./pear mage-setup .
./pear install magento-core/Mage_All_Latest-stable

After making these changes, Magento can be upgraded to the latest version via web based installer.

404 Error on Specimen Products:

While selecting any product on main page, if it shows “error 404 page not found”, then it can be solved as follows:

To solve this error, the user has to login in the backend system of magento and go to:

System -> Cache Management

Another way is to click on the “Refresh Button” in the catalogue section. This will fix the URL structure for the categories as well as the products.

Magento Connection Download from Archived section:

For some reasons, if you wish to download the archived extension, it can be done as follows:

wget http://connect.magentocommerce.com/TYPE/get/EXTENSION_NAME-X.X.X.tgz

“TYPE” must be replaced with real extension type, EXTENSION_NAME with real extension name and X.X.X. must be replaced with real version number.

To know the real type and real machine Extension name, check the extension key and consider its format Magento Type/ Extension Name.

Zesttech Solutions provides all the sort of the magento installation methods including the above mentioned ones. Get the best of Magento Services, from an expert Magento Development Company, .

http://zesttechsolutions.com/magento-development-portfolio

How To Prepare For Magento Development – (Part 2) The User Interface Functionalities

Posted on July 27, 2012 by zestadmin

With the standard architecture of the Magento ecommerce platform there is much functionality that can account for many business’s needs. Have a look at this web page to see what is accounted for in the standard features of a Magento website. http://zesttechsolutions.com/magento-packages

Many companies offer a standard Magento development package that includes the customizations of your product categories and sub categories and the integration of standard secure checkouts, such as PayPal and world Pay. Magento developers will also set up your shopping cart which includes unit price, quantity, weight, tax and more. Another important feature that Magento experts would customizes is the standard promotional functions; these are, up sell, cross promotions, coupon code validations, news letter wish list and more. The best way to get the most out of your Magento developer is to do a detail analysis of your business’s front end functional needs and this way it will make it easier for the Magento development company you choose.

When trying to establish your business’s ecommerce needs for your business analysis you should take into considerations the following aspects to help for your Magento development.

1) What products are you looking to sell and what units are you looking to sell them in, i.e. quantity, weight and length? Also are there going to be variations in your products, such as size and color?

2) Defining your categories and sub categories is another important aspect

3) You need to have a basic idea of the navigation of your website, like what you would want in your navigation bar and what would you like in the left and right panel?

4) What promotional functions you would need in your website, would you need to have coupon code discounts functions and how would you like to up sell and cross sell?

5) Would you like integrate your website with third parties websites like price comparisons website, deal websites, social websites as well as market places such as eBay and Amazon?

6) In regards to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) You need to know what are the keywords people are typing in to search for your products

7) How do your logistics work? Do you use drop shippers or do you send your own stock? How many shipping locations do you have? What shipping companies would you like to use?

The above are just some of the basic aspects you need to consider when choosing a Magento expert. Magento has an extremely large developer community and you would be sure to find the right extension/add-ons if your requirements cannot be fulfilled in the standard architecture of Magento with in Magento Connect.

Within Magento connect you can find more personalized shopping cart functional add-ons that enhance the user experience. Things like one step check out make it easier and less time consuming for your customer - http://www.magentocommerce.com/magento-connect/quick-one-page-checkout.html. You could also integrate social functions, i.e have a Facebook store page with beetailer http://www.magentocommerce.com/magento-connect/beetailer-facebook-integration.html

You can even boost your product display with powerful and easy to use zoom function http://www.magentocommerce.com/magento-connect/customer-experience/category-product-page-enhancements/magic-zoom.html

The above are just some of the thousands of exciting functions that you could find on Magento Connect, even for free, that help your website become a superb user interface.

Be sure to check out Magento Connect while doing your analysis for your customer interface. Your detailed analysis would make you look professional and well organized to a Magento developer (which is very important) and with it along with your design analysis (read part 1 in the previous blog) your Magento development would certainly run a lot smoother.

So we have talked about the customer interface and functional needs of a Magento website and we have stressed the importance of doing an analysis of your particular requirements. In the previous article we mentioned the importance of preparing your design requirements. Both parts of Magento development, Magento front end interface design as well as front end user interface functionality are equally important. It is also important to note that the back end of your user interface and functionality is equally as important as the front end.

Next week is the final part of the blog. In the final part we will talk about the importance of organizing your back end requirements. In this we will talk about content management systems (CMS) as well as customer relationship management systems (CRM). We will also mention about web analytic tools and accounting systems. So after reading all three blogs we hope you could put together a detailed document that breaks down your needs and requirements which helps Magento developer and Magento designers to serve you in the most efficient way.

How To Prepare For Magento Development – (Part 1) The Design

Posted on July 17, 2012 by zestadmin

Preparing a design for Magneto development can be a tricky task. In order to get the best from the Magento developers you should plan your project according how much time you have and how much money you are looking to spend.

When considering the design of your Magento store it is advisable to consider your budget before hand. This is because the more you want to customize your Magento design the more money you would need to spend. If you are looking to save on both money and time than one way to go about it is to purchase a template and ask the Magento development company to customize it for you. There are thousands of fantastic, users friendly and aesthetics templates out there and you can find some of them at http://galathemes.com/magento-themes.html . If you cannot find a template to match the design concept that’s buzzing in that brain of yours then you need to be well prepared to get the most out of the Magento development team.

When trying to elaborate on your brilliant concept to the Magento developers you need to base the initial design concept around your logo design, and if you don’t have one than it’s the first thing you need to create. The color theme and the general outline of the website stems from the design of your visual identity and therefore it is imperative that your logo expresses your brand concept. When this important part of your design becomes concrete you can start painting the virtual picture by considering the specific outlines of your design.

While taking the customized approach you need to contemplate on the following aspects:

1) What are the main design aspects you want in your home page and how do you want them to look like?, i.e. flash banner , your menu bar social buttons and the general navigation

2) How you want your products to be displayed in both the home page and product pages?

3) What additional pages you may require and how you want them to be designed? i.e. contact us, about us, shipping and FAQ

4) How would you want the check out procedure to look?

5) How mobile friendly can you make your design without jeopardizing the initial concept and without incurring more costs?

6) Can your design remain consistent through the various sales channels such as eBay?

7) How would you want to promote your products throughout your website? When you have a promotion or sale does your design needs to account for future seasonal and festive changes?

The above are just some of the points you need to consider when approaching the right Magento developer with your design concept. Whatever design your thinking of its first important to consider your budget and time scale. The more complex the design the more money your website will cost you. Like mentioned, if you want to save money on your design costs and you want to use the resources to spend on your website functionality/extensions and add-ons (the next article) then you should be more inclined to customizing an existing template. And don’t forget that there are thousands of amazing templates that might just match your thinking! Good Luck and make sure you read part 2 of the Magento development article next week, Considering the Functionalities of your Magento website.

ZestTech solutions: A Magento development Company of London in the United Kingdom: ZestTech Solutions have large team of Magento developers that have been Magento experts for over 4 years. ZestTech solutions have created and customized numerous ecommerce websites over the past for years and we at ZestTech take pride in our quality work within stringent timescales

Specific Requirements Before Getting Started With Magento Development

Posted on May 29, 2012 by zestadmin

As we all know, Magento is the well known open source software widely used to develop online stores with overall functionalities such as Magento design, Search box, Payment gateways, Product description, Product display with multiple images, searching product through Size, Category, Colour, Variation type and more. Certain online traders wish to develop an online store according to their own needs which suits their business requirements perfectly. Custom Magento designs; custom magento templates fulfil these needs of the businesspeople. Online traders can get a fully customized Magento store including all the functionalities.

Getting a stunning ecommerce store developed on such a brilliant ecommerce platform can be the first step towards success for an online business. To get this task done, Magento developers are required. Currently, Magento developer(s) are in huge demand. However, before commencing the magento development, here are some cues that can be of great use for the Magento Professionals:

Backend: Select “System> Configuration, then Advanced > Configuration. A dialog box as shown below will appear. In the Debug section, enable “profiler” and in the “Template settings”, enable “Log settings”. You can see File Location directory is /var directory. Please ensure that this directory allows writing in the file.

Then activate the “Developer Mode” in the programming part, in vhost configuration. To activate the developer mode, insert this command in the vhost configuration :

Altering the index.PHP file:
In order to activate the Varien Profiler and display the errors, the index.php file is to be edited. The index.php should view as given in the below image:

Checking MySQL: With respect to know which queries take long time to load the page; we can log all the queries to determine the query that takes the longest time. This can be done by modifying the script as follows :
- By altering the lib/Varien/Db/Adapter/Pdo/Mysql.php and set to true: $_debug, $_logCallStack and set to “0″ the $_logQueryTime value.
- Preparing a writable directory in var called debug (that is, var/debug) in your magento directory.

Necessary Magento extensions:Extensions are installed to get help while developing an ecommerce store on Magento. All extensions are not Magento compatible. The compatible ones are Web developer toolbar and Layout analyzer.
- Web development toolbar: This extension is used to add tool buttons in the top right website corner. This allows us to see block information, clear cache, allow translation, block any pages, allow blocked content and more.
- Lay out Analyzer: With the help of this extension, the preview of the store layout can be seen before making it live. Final XML Layout can also be viewed.

Using all the above mentioned tools and some more, Magento development can be accomplished easily. However, the tools should be handy as at times it becomes difficult to establish and modify the Magento based online store.

ZestTech Solutions, deals in Magento development services including easy magento development with the use of latest magento development ways.

Magento Update: Latest Magento Enterprise and Community have been launched

Posted on May 23, 2012 by zestadmin

Magento, as we all know is the well known open source ecommerce platform having the customizable features and functionalities. The demand for Magento and Magento Go is rising dramatically. The ecommerce industry keeps updating on daily basis. With a view to meet the changing demands, open source platforms such as Magento and Oscommerce also get updated on regular basis.

Recently, new versions of Magento known as Magento Enterprise 1.12 and Magento Community 1.7 have come into the lime light. The Magento developer Uk can create magento versions that are fully featured providing the business people with various wish lists, order placement, mobile optimization, nurture brand integrity and more. These versions can be used by any of the online traders including B2B commerce. These Magento versions are launched with a view to offer more substantiate shopping exposure.

However, the businesspeople might think what benefits they will get by using new Magento versions; Magento 1.12 and Magento 1.7. Those who are already using Magento as an ecommerce platform can easily differentiate between the features of the current Magento version and latest one. The new comers in the magento industry are definitely going to like it as it will make their online business smoother than ever. In order to know the new Magento in a better way let’s have a look at its top benefits:

HTML 5 for mobile: The magento developer UK can create storefronts that can be easily used on mobile making purchases easy for the buyers 24/7. Best supportable with Android and I phones. This application has many innovative features such as clear exposure of the store pages , easy navigation between the pages, convenient search result display, cross selling and up selling, product drag n drop facility are a few.

Identifying the viewers: On regular basis, lots of visitors come across the online store. The new magento versions help to differentiate between the regular users and the new visitors converting the new clicks into customers.

Aspired Viewers: With a perspective of reaching to the target customers, certain schemes are applied such as special offers, cross selling and up selling to provide perfect shopping experience. This feature is available in Magento enterprise 1.12

Creating promotional codes: When any trader has applied promotional schemes to the products, this feature helps to generate the codes by itself which the seller can circulate among its customers via email and other distribution methods. Along with distribution, this feature also helps to keep the check on the use of coupons as well as maintain the reports.

Different Chain values: This feature allows traders to keep different prices for different cluster of customers such as dealers, retailers, direct customers, new customers, regular customers and more.

Back up and Roll Back: This feature enables the online merchants to administer and line up the backup functions along with the rollback feature used to converse the changes made in the store or store pages. It works best Magento developers UK customize any store or upgrade the store with new magento versions. The backup is used for database backup, system backup and media backup.

Above mentioned are some of the best features of the Magento Enterprise 1.12 and Magento Community 1.7.

ZestTech Solutions, a UK based Magento Development Company provides the Magento services with the latest Magento versions ensuring your business to reach at the next level offering you strong success in the field of ecommerce.