Install Drupal on UnderHost: Step-by-Step Guide

Drupal is a powerful, flexible CMS designed for complex websites and applications. Unlike WordPress (beginner-friendly), Drupal has a steeper learning curve but offers greater control and scalability. It powers major sites: The Economist, Tesla, Twitter, The Grammy Awards.

Drupal vs WordPress

Choose Drupal if: You need extreme customization, building custom applications, complex content structures, or managing multiple entities with relationships.

Choose WordPress if: You want to get started quickly, use pre-built themes, need plugins for functionality, or run a blog/small business site.

System Requirements

Drupal 9/10 requires:

• PHP 7.4 or 8.0+ with extensions: curl, date, dom, filter, gd, hash, json, mysql, pdo, session, xml
• MySQL 5.7.8+ or MariaDB 10.3.7+
• Web server: Apache or Nginx with mod_rewrite enabled
• File permissions: Write access to files directory
• 1GB RAM minimum (2GB+ recommended)

Check your hosting: cPanel → PHP Version or aaPanel → PHP Management to verify PHP version.

Download Drupal

1. Visit drupal.org/download
2. Download latest stable version (Drupal 10.x recommended)
3. Extract ZIP file on your computer

Upload to Server

Option 1: Via FTP/SFTP

1. Connect via FileZilla or WinSCP
2. Upload all Drupal files to public_html folder
3. Takes 5-10 minutes depending on connection speed

Option 2: Via cPanel File Manager

1. cPanel → File Manager → public_html
2. Upload Drupal ZIP file
3. Right-click → Extract

Option 3: Via SSH (VPS only, fastest)

cd /home/username/public_html
wget https://www.drupal.org/download-latest/tar.gz
tar -xzf drupal-10.0.0.tar.gz
mv drupal-10.0.0/* .
rm -rf drupal-10.0.0 drupal-10.0.0.tar.gz

Create Database

In cPanel:

1. Go to MySQL Databases
2. Create new database: username_drupal
3. Create user: username_drupal_user
4. Set password (store securely)
5. Add user to database with ALL permissions

Note the credentials:

• Database name: username_drupal
• Database user: username_drupal_user
• Host: localhost
• Password: (what you created)

Run Installation Wizard

1. Visit yourdomain.com in browser
2. Drupal installer should load automatically
3. Choose language (English recommended)
4. Database configuration:
   • Database type: MySQL or MariaDB
   • Database name: username_drupal
   • Database username: username_drupal_user
   • Database password: (your password)
   • Host: localhost
5. Click Save and continue
6. Site setup (configure basic settings)
7. Create admin user (username, email, password)
8. Click Finish installation

Success! You now have a running Drupal site.

Install Modules (Plugins)

Drupal calls plugins "modules". After installation, log in and install essential modules:

1. Go to Extend (left sidebar)
2. Popular modules to enable:
   • Views: Create custom content displays
   • Metatag: SEO optimization
   • Pathauto: Friendly URLs
   • Image: Image handling
   • Token: Text replacement (dependency)
3. Check boxes next to modules → Install

Post-Installation

1. Set File Permissions

Critical for security:

chmod 755 sites/default
chmod 644 sites/default/settings.php
mkdir -p sites/default/files
chmod 755 sites/default/files

2. Configure Settings

Go to Configuration (admin):

• System → Site information → Set site name and email
• System → Site maintenance → Test status
• Media → File system → Verify paths
• Content → Content types → Customize as needed

3. Enable Clean URLs (SEO-friendly)

1. Configuration → Search and metadata → Clean URLs
2. Check Enable clean URLs
3. Click Save configuration

4. Setup Backups

See our Backup strategy guide to automate backups.

Related: WordPress installation | CMS comparison | Drupal modules

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