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Drupal

Installation:

Upgrading from 6.2 to 6.4 (steps to upgrade to other versions should apply)

  1. Before starting the update process, make sure you have created a Drupal admin account (super user) with all the permissions. Ensure that the Drupal user login block is enabled on the front page so that the Drupal admin can login.
  2. Ensure that your themes and non-core modules are compatible with the new version of Drupal that you are about to upgrade to.
  3. Also make sure that the web server has write permissions to /sites/default/.  You can check this by issuing the command fs la inside the default directory and if it shows that the wwwserver pts group has rlidwk permissions then you are good to go.
  4. Download Drupal 6.4 from http://drupal.org/ and extract it into a temporary space.
  5. Login to your Drupal site with the Drupal admin account and disable all customized modules (e.g. WRAP)
  6. Make a backup of all customized modules and themes that you might have downloaded.
  7. Make backup of your Drupal Database
  8. From the Administer Navigator option select Site maintenance
  9. Change the option from Online to Off-Line and Save Configuration
  10. In the Drupal 6.4 extracted folder select all except the Sites folder and copy all selected files and folders to the Drupal directory which has the older version of Drupal. DO NOT REPLACE SITES FOLDER. If you have a custom .htaccess file DO NOT replace it either. Remember that the original .htaccess Drupal file is not compatible with the ITECS' Web hosting configuration.
  11. Next in a browser page, go to your Drupal web site and append /update.php for that address
  12. Follow the instructions shown on the screen.
  13. After the update process is done, click on "go to Administror Pages" link.
  14. Select modules and enable all the customized modules that were previously disabled before the beginning of the update process
  15. Save all the changes made
  16. From the Administer Navigator option select Site maintenance
  17. Change the option from Off-Line to Online and Save Configuration
  18. Select Reports option under the Administer navigation option, when Status report option is selected, the Version number seen should be 6.4 instead of 6.2. which shows that the update was successful

Disabling warning/error Messages You can also disable these warnings/error messages from being displayed on the screen within Drupal. Here are the steps:

  1. Login as admin
  2. Select Administer option
  3. Select "Error Reporting"
  4. You can select between
    Write Errors to the log and
    Write Errors to the log and the screen (this is the default)
  5. Select "Write Errors to the log"
  6. Save Configuration.
  7. Warning messages won't be displayed anymore upon file uploads
  8. To see errors, go to "Reports" under Administer and check the Reports log.

Modules WRAP Module (courtesy of wolftech): http://www.wolftech.ncsu.edu/support/support/Drupal_WRAP_Module
Restrict Node Access To restrict access to nodes,

  1. download the Nodeaccess module from http://drupal.org/project/nodeaccess
  2. install it under the sites:all:modules folder
  3. Enable it in the administer module page
  4. Grant Nodeaccess module permissions to corresponding Drupal roles/users
  5. Create a new Content Type (e.g. IT Only Page)
  6. Select the Nodeaccess from the Administer link
  7. Select the new Content Type you created in step 5
  8. Check permissions for each role

Remove Blog it from feeds

See: http://drupal.org/node/233407

Use a Literal Name for a Node Instead of a Node Number

Given that your host allows mod_rewrite, enable the Clean URLs and path modules. Grant access permissions to roles/users on these modules. When editing/creating a new node, enter an alternative URL by which a node can be accessed. For example, type web when writing a page about "web".