The ATutor development and testing processes are done almost exclusively on Apache 1.3, and as such we strongly recommend it for production environments. ATutor has been successfully installed on other web servers, including, Zeus, lighttpd, Apache 2 (using pre-forking), Abyss, Zazou Mini Web Server, Microsoft IIS, and Jana-Server.
The web server can be configured with SSL for added security or to use a non-standard port and ATutor will function without modification.
PHP 4.2.0 or higher with Zlib, MySQL, and session support enabled is required. PHP version 4.3.0 or higher is highly recommended as it provides greater performance than previous versions. PHP version 5.0.2 or higher is also supported, but ATutor does not make use of its added functionality. Additionally, the following php.ini configuration setting is required:
safe_mode = Off
The following are recommended settings:
display_errors = Off arg_separator.input = ";&" register_globals = Off magic_quotes_gpc = Off magic_quotes_runtime = Off allow_url_fopen = On register_argc_argv = Off zlib.output_compression = On post_max_size = 8M ; or greater file_uploads = On upload_max_filesize = 2M ; or greater session.use_trans_sid = 0
Currently ATutor only supports the MySQL database. MySQL 3.23.0 or higher, 4.0.12 or higher, or 4.1.10 or higher is required. MySQL 4.0.20 and higher or 4.1.10 and higher is recommended, especially if you are using languages that would benefit from being represented in the UTF-8 character set. As ATutor moves towards utilizing UTF-8 throughout, support for older version of MySQL will be removed.
A database user account with database creation privileges is required if your database does not already exist. That same user will then need table creation privileges for the chosen database.. See the MySQL chapter How the Privilege System Works for additional information.
ATutor makes use of many new HTML features that are only supported in recent web browsers. Though ATutor is designed to function effectively in older browsers we strongly recommend using the latest version of your favorite browser. We recommend FireFox for either Windows, Unix or Mac OS X.