Installtion
is a database program written in PHP. It requires PHP
and mySQL on your webserver. Don't worry, most webservers do. If you run
WordPress or any other kind of blog or content management system on your
server, you have what it takes to run . Please have the
database connection details handy so that you can complete
setup.
Wordpress Versions
The standard plugin version can be downloaded and installed from within
the admin interface of your blog. Search for Easy PayPal and hit "Install
Now."
You can use your blog admin interface to install the Pro version of the
plugin as well. Use the Upload page to locate and install the downloaded
zip archive.
Congratulations! Your installation is now complete.
Standalone Versions
Unlike the WordPress version, the standalone version needs to know your
database connection details. It also needs you to set up an admin user
name and password for security. In the WordPress version, these entities
are already defined in your blog, and reusese them.
- Unzip and upload the downloaded package (
ezpapal.zip
or
ezpaypal-pro.zip
) to your sever.
- Browse to the location using your web browser.
- Choose a admin user name and a strong password, and enter your
database connection details. The setup page will generate the
configuration file. Your is now fully set up. You will
get the following message indicating the successful installation.
- If there are errors in creating the configuration file, you will get
detailed instructions as to how to correct the issue. Just follow the
instructions to complete the installation.
- If you have misconfigured , you will have to remove
the configuration file (
rm ezppCfg.php
) and recreate it
following the instructions in the previous step.
intentionally makes it difficult to recover from errors because error
recovery interfaces are also security holes.
Here are the descriptions of the various fields on the installation
screen. In keeping with the philosophy of providing help
where it most matters, these descriptions are available to you on the
installation screen itself, by hovering over the
icon next to the field.
- Admin User Name: Use an alphanumeric string as the username,
with the first character a letter. Best not to use names like admin,
root, staff or your name -- these can be easily guessed.
- Password: Use a password that cannot be easily guessed. Be
sure to note it down or keep it some secure password keeper program.
ezPayPal takes security very seriously and you will not be able to
retrieve the password or reinstall the package without some serious
work. You are not allowed to change Admin password, although you can
create a new Admin account.
- Password (again): Type in your password again for
verification.
- Table Prefix: Use a prefix for all the database tables so
that you can easily identify them. The suggested prefix
ezpp_
is a decent one, but to enhance your security, you
may want to choose a different one.
- Hostname: If your database is hosted on a different server,
please provide its name. Usually, MySQL databases are hosted at the same
server as your Webserver, in which case, you can use
localhost
as your database server.
- Database Name: If you are using a dedicated database created
using your CPanel or other hosting provider interface, please provide
its name. It usually has the form
username_dbname
. If you
have limits on the number of databases you can create on your server,
you can reuse an existing database. If not, it is best to create a
dedicated one for your PayPal activities.
- Username: Your username to log on to the database server. It
is typically the same as the database name itself.
- Password: Your database password.
- Email ID: Optional. This email ID will be used to send
Database error messages from your ezPayPal installation. If there are
errors during IPN transactions, ezPayPal sends messages to the support
email ID you have (or will) set up in
admin.php
. However,
if the DB cannot be connected to, the support email ID stored in the DB
cannot be accessed, and diagnostic messages cannot be sent. So, this is
the only email Id the program will have access to. If you do not want
emails about DB errors, please give a fake email ID like
nobody@nowhere.com
Important: Be careful about the admin username and
password. Since takes security very seriously, it
wouldn't let you retrieve a lost password. Resetting the password will
require database operations.
Optional Addon Modules
is designed to be extensible. You can enhance the
functionality of the Pro Standalone version by purchasing and installing
optional modules. Their installation is even easier than the simple
installation of described above. The array of modules
available and under development are listed below, and described in greater
detail in subsequent chapters.
- ezAffiliates: Create your own affiliate network and
go viral by turing your satisfied customers into your advertising
affiliatees. This package, built on the pubicly available
Affiliates-for-All, integrates perfectly with to automate affiliate
sales tracking and commission computation and more.
- ezReports: Maximize your sales by analyzing your
sales. This reporting package makes slicing and dicing your sales and
affiliate data a snap, so that you can spot opportunities.
- ezTextLinks: Do you have a high page-rank site? Do
you get a lot of requests for text links? They can be significantly more
lucrative (by a factor of 100, in my case) than contextual ads such as
AdSense. The returns can be even greater if you can deal with your
advertisers directly, rather than via providers like Text Link Ads that
take 50% of your revenue. ezTextLinks will handle payment, activate and
expire links, send reminder emails and handle renewals etc.
- ezSupport: Every complex software project, once
deployed, generates significant support load. Most of the support
questions are frivilous, where the end-user presents silly issues that
are easily resolved by a cursory look at the documentation. How do we
ask the end-user to RTFM without antagonizing them? I found that it
could be done by switching to a paid support model. I started charging
95 cents per support questions, and my support load went down by two
orders o magnitude. This ezSupport package is built on the excellent
osTicket program. It works hand in hand with and
provides you with a configurable support system.