cPanel Tutorial: Database Creation

The information in this cPanel tutorial might seem apparent to the advanced webmaster, but the novice will certainly find it useful. Whether it’s using Fantastico to install a blog, guestbook or CMS such as Joomla, many beginners have a hard time setting up the database. This tutorial will show you how to properly configure databases in cPanel to assure that the rest of your operations run seamlessly.

Creating the Database and Users

In order to install any scripts with Fantastico, you must first have an empty database for the installation procedure. To begin, log into the cPanel software with the username and password for account. Once you reach the main interface, locate the “MySQL Databases” link and click it. If you have already created databases for other purposes, the forms to insert them will be located in a footer at the bottom of the page. In the “New Database” input box, type in the name for your new database. We’ll use “CMS” for example. Remember that the database name will be slightly modified in the end. You will notice that cPanel automatically appends the database name to the username of your account. So if your username is Pasco, the newly created database would read “pasco_cms “. You definitely want to keep this in mind as entering the wrong name will prevent the script from seeing the database.

Next, we will create a user to enable access, using Pasco as our example. From the interface, locate input fields for “Username” and “Password”. Enter the credentials to your account and then click the “Create User” button. You are now assigned the final database username of pasco_cms along with the password you entered.

So that’s it, right? Not quite. In fact, this is where several beginners make their mistake. They believe the process is over until later down the line when their script installation displays the message of “cannot connect to the database”. Why does this happen? You already created the username and assigned a specific user. However, you didn’t make sure the user was assigned “privileges” for that particular database. This is just a small setback. Look towards the bottom of the window and locate “Add users To Your Database”. Use one drop-box to find the database name you created and the other to find the username you created. Select them both and then click “Add user to the database”. You certainly want to be careful here, especially if you have created other databases with different usernames. Making the wrong selections will cause the scripts you have installed on cPanel not to function any more. After making the appropriate selection you’re done.

Conclusion

If you play it cautious and follow these simple directions, you can set up a new database for a new user with all the exclusive privileges within a matter of minutes. All you have to do is perform an installation on the script of your choice and enter the accurate information pertaining to the database name, the database username and the database password.

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