This chapter describes the installation of SoSci Survey on an own web server.
If you want to update an already existing installation of SoSci Survey, please read Update of the installation.
Note: This chapter is not relevant if you want to use SoSci Survey on an already existing survey server (e. g. www.soscisurvey.de). There you can directly register a user account and a survey project without installation (Overview).
Note: SoSci Survey is not publicly available for download. Companies can purchase server licenses to run their own survey server (pricing). Academic institutions receive a free university license upon request.
To install SoSci Survey you need a working web server with PHP and database support. The installation of SoSci Survey requires the following software:
Recommended for optimal operation:
The task of the web server is to provide contents from the server to the internet/intranet. For this to work, the web server and firewall must be configured correctly. Please make sure that the web server is accessible via HTTP/HTTPS protocol.
Tip: If you don't have a web server yet and want to set up a local server under Windows, the xampp installation package of the Apache Friends saves a lot of work. It includes among other things a pre-configured Apache web server and MySQL.
Note: Most of the cheap webspace offers of the hosters are so-called shared hosting. There are hundreds or thousands of Internet offers running on a web server. This webspace is already offered at prices of less than 2 EUR per month. In order that the offers on such a server do not get in the way of each other, the functions are often limited a little bit (e. g. PHP runs in the so-called Safe Mode). In return, there is no need to worry about installing and setting up the web server for shared hosting.
The following software is helpful or required for installation:
If you are not familiar with rights management on web servers, please read Processes and Users on a Web Server.
In order for the server to work correctly with SoSci Survey, you may need to create a directory for SoSci Survey and make further adjustments.
In order for SoSci Survey to access the database, you need a username and password for the database.
Important: A database user specifically for SoSci Survey increases the security of the server against attacks. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to set up your own database and user for SoSci Survey.
In the case that you use the database administrator's user account (e. g.“root”) to access the database, SoSci Survey will be able to create a database on its own – you can skip this section.
Unpack the SoSci Survey installation package and copy the files into the directory you provided on the server.
The following examples assume that you install SoSci Survey on the server www.domain.tld in the subdirectory or alias /sosci. The URL of the server accordingly was http://www.domain.tld/sosci/. Please replace the domain with the correct domain and the directory of your installation directory. For example, if you access the local computer, the correct URL is http://127.0.0.1/sosci/ (usually an IP address is used instead of the domain name on the local computer).
First of all, test whether you can reach SoSci Survey via the Intranet or Internet. To do this, call up the URL http://www.domain.tld/sosci/admin/-reach.php in your Internet browser. The hyphen (-) is important. If the web server is accessible correctly, the browser window now shows “reach”.
In the following some common problems are described. If necessary, please also read the instructions for Preparing Server II (Apache) or Preparing Server II (Microsoft IIS).
Now test whether PHP scripts are processed correctly. To do this, call up the URL http://www.domain.tld/sosci/admin/-php.php in your Internet browser. Now “php” should appear in your browser.
In most cases, the web server is only allowed to read files on the hard disk. Therefore, you have to assign write permissions for some directories manually. The configuration of write permissions varies depending on the server:
Please grant the web server (i. e. the operating system user whose rights the web server acts with) write permission for the following directories:
The web server needs to access some directories, but web server users (internet surfers) are not allowed to access them. This must be ensured by configuring the web server accordingly.
The installation package contains some files called. htaccess – these files govern, among other things, the access rights on a default Apache web server. Test the correct function by checking the URLs http://www.domain.tld/sosci/inc/-reach.php
, http://www.domain.tld/sosci/lib/-reach.php
, and http://www.domain.tld/sosci/system/-reach.php
.
.htaccess
has probably been disabled. In this case, you must disable access in the Apache configuration (e. g. /etc/apache2/httpd.conf
or apache/conf/httpd.conf
) with a directory directive. You must specify the installation directory plus /inc
, /lib
, /system
<Directory /var/www/sosci/inc/> Order allow,deny deny from all </Directory> <Directory /var/www/sosci/lib/> Order allow,deny deny from all </Directory> <Directory /var/www/sosci/system/> Order allow,deny deny from all </Directory>
/inc
: Local Computer → Web Sites → Default Web Site → Installation Directory → incThe installation routine (see below) checks the PHP settings and warns about possible problems. A setting that usually needs to be changed affects file sizes:
upload_max_filesize
in the file php.ini to 32M
.post_max_size
has a smaller value, enter 32M
ein. The latter also avoids problems with very extensive questionnaires (e. g. a lot of HTML or PHP code).memory_limit
setting is set to a value less than 32M
, it must also be increased so that the upload of large files works correctly. In order to reach the upper limit of 32 MB during the upload, this value must be even slightly higher (e. g. 33M), because oFb itself also needs some memory.max_file_uploads
setting regulates how many files are transferred at the same time. The default configuration with 20 images may be a bit tight and can be increased to 50 or 100, for example.The other PHP settings are already suitable for SoSci Survey with a standard installation. The necessary changes are described below if the installation routine sounds an alarm.
extension
line in PHP.INI. The web server must then be restarted./etc/init.d/apache2 restart
.
A standard MySQL installation is usually well suited for running SoSci Survey. Nevertheless, take a look at the following settings. You can query a setting with the SQL command SHOW VARIABLES LIKE "max_user_connections"
, whereby the last part is of course replaced by the relevant variable.
max_user_connections
is too low (e. g. 16 or less), this may limit the number of concurrent respondents.max_user_connections
and max_connections
: If the hoster means well and sets both values to the same high value (e. g. 512), this can cause the problem of database overload – by another user on the server who uses all connections (e. g. a faulty script).After successful installation, you can log in as an administrator. You should set a password immediately:
Now the installation is complete. From now on, additional user accounts can be registered and survey projects can be set up (set up Useraccount and Survey).
For an optimal execution of SoSci Survey, two PHP scripts should be called regularly: Regular Maintenance of the Server (once a day) and Execution of Time-Controlled Tasks.