WikiIslam:Sandbox/WikiIslam:Setting up a new WikiIslam subdomain
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These are the steps for setting up a new WikiIslam subdomain. This can also be used for setting up the site on a new server.
- Initial setup (Server access)
- Setup the subdomain URL, databases, files, cache directories. Follow the same subdomain shortform that Wikipedia uses (for example bg for Bulgarian)
- Database changes:
- Interwiki table: Edit Interwiki database tables to add rows to all sub-domain databases. One row will be added to each sub-domain database and it will be similar to:
INSERT INTO `mw_interwiki` (iw_prefix, iw_url, iw_local, iw_trans) VALUES ('bg', 'http://bg.wikiislam.net/wiki/$1', 1, 0);
See Manual:Interwiki for help.
- Interwiki table: Edit Interwiki database tables to add rows to all sub-domain databases. One row will be added to each sub-domain database and it will be similar to:
- Database changes:
- Modify the logo from the original PSD file (needs a translation of the site's name and the tag line. Use transparent background and a PNG file format as the output)
- Translate interface messages in "extensions/EditMonitor/EditMonitor.i18n.php" and "extensions/RecentChangesCleanup/RecentChangesCleanup.i18n.php". Upload the modified files.
- Populate 'wikiIslamDisableFileCache' in the LocalSettings.php for that domain to include at least one page (just use a dummy variable), to prevent an error message when logged out.
- Initial setup (on the wiki)
- Create any number of temporary pages that will be helpful for you in creating and setting up the site
- Create Administrator and Bureaucrat accounts at the new site and give them rights (Editor, Reviewer and em-bypass-2. Use em-bypass-1 for new users that join the site later)
- Create a page for Administrators (such as WikiIslam:Administrators) that has relevant information and links to frequently edited files or content for Administrative use. You can include shortcuts to the links mentioned on this page.
- Edit these pages for the subdomain: MediaWiki:Sidebar, MediaWiki:Rclinks, MediaWiki:Common.css
- Make a copy of MediaWiki:Vars on the new domain. The title 'MediaWiki:Vars' will remain as it is and is not translated.
- Make shortcuts to Site lock down which are seen at WikiIslam:Administrators.
- Move content
- Start moving content into the subdomain
- Update links on translated articles on other language domains
After the site is ready, link the site on MediaWiki:Sidebar for other subdomains. Also edit WikiIslam to link the new site.
Checklist
This is a checklist for new website installations. These checks take some time to complete so do the most important/simple checks first (e.g. page views)
- New Server Setup: Mediawiki is PHP/SQL based. Typical Shared hosting will not work since it is only sufficient for very small low-traffic websites. Use a VPS instead. NGinx is strongly recommended for higher speed instead of Apache (Apache/NGinx comparison for a SQL/PHP setup and [1] for another comparison). NGinx can serve many more requests/second for the same CPU usage for a dynamic website. Also use Mediawiki's own file cache and any other methods available.
- Primary Issues to check first
First the site should work for visitors and it should be protected against spam and vandalism.
- Original URLs should work (or incoming links will be broken). For example http://www.wikiislam.net/Allah should work]). Links can be broken after creating short URLs with htaccess, rewrite or other methods. So if the new URL is http://www.wikiislam.net/index.php?Allah or something like that, this will result in incoming broken links.
- Check a few page views in both logged-out and logged-in states.
- Anti-spam and anti-vandalism:
- Anti-spam works. New account and anonymous edits should require a Captcha that works effectively for bots. ConfirmEdit's Questy Captcha is one of the best options. This is critical because spam bots attack the site every minute.
- Anti-vandalism features work (use extension AbuseFilter or other anti-vandalism methods).
- Until the above two features work, user account registration and anonymous edits should be disabled.
- Main domain and sub-domain redirects work (should redirect to the main page)
- Images: Check pages which have images and see if images show up.
- Other Issues
- Page editing works. Use test pages.
- Email functions work: Enable emailing on an account and send a test email using the "email user" function (accessible on the left for a user who has email enabled)
- Links to sub-domain articles work
- Flagged revisions should work
- As Time Permits
- If time permits, check for issues in different browsers (Chrome, Firefox etc) and platforms (PC, Mobile, MAC). At the least check if a page can be viewed in a browser or platform.
- Login/Logout works.
- Check for server load. High traffic can be around 6-10 times the normal traffic. The server should still be able to work quickly without excessive CPU or swap usage.
- Check if an image can be resized. To check, just edit a page with an existing image, resize the image and do a preview.
- Tips
- Look for advice from other Mediawiki users (the Mediawiki.org website, its help pages or email lists for MW users) for issues, for improving the performance of the site, for adding features/extensions to the site. Look at other wiki websites (register as a user, see their editing interface, see their Version page) to see what features they offer in case there's something that can be used on our site too.
- Keep regular site backups in multiple locations (e.g. your computer, backup drives, online backups, trusted friends). Keep backups that date back a few months. Give the latest backups to a few trusted people. Backup about once a month, or more often in case of more frequent editing.
- Use Mediawiki debugging to help troubleshoot errors/issues.
Translation of Sub-domain Interface Messages
The following interface messages need to be translated for new sub-domains: