osCommerce is the web’s most popular open source (free) e-commerce solution. All you need is a web host that provides access to PHP & MySQL.

I suggest a local installation to get your head round osCommerce followed by a server based installation. A local installation has two advantages: saves you money if you're on dial up connection and secondly saves you time testing & modifying your installation.

A web server, I recommend Apache.

The PHP scripting language to powerhouse the application.

MySQL Server & Database.

PhpMyAdmin, an easy way to administer the MySQL database through a web interface. Get your head round MySQL without the imposing command line.

A mail server allows you to simulate the sending and receiving of mail on your local machine, without being connected to the internet.

Lastly osCommerce.

Before downloading any of the above required components I suggest you follow the below installation sequence.

That will pretty much give you all the tools you need to get up and running locally.

Running into problems?

Pop over to the osCommerce forums and post or search for an answer.

1  When moving your shop to the internet remember to edit your configure.php file, put in the correct server and database details for the live shop (your internet host will provide you with these details).

Beyond Compare (for windows) is a superb utility for synchronizing your local copy of osCommerce with the copy on the internet. If anyone knows an open source equivalent please pop me an email (Winmerge is close but doesn't have the remote FTP synch feature).

2  Upload your local osCommerce folder & sub folders (including all .php, .gif, .jpg files) to your hosting company.(continued below...)

1  Pop over to Webmonkeys' PHP guide, it will help you install PHP and Apache on your machine.

2  Download and install MySQL. I suggest you download the sample chapters (pdf format) from "Build Your Own Database Driven Website using PHP & MySQL by Kevin Yank" at sitepoint.com. The "Installation" and "Getting Started with MySQL guides" sections were particularly helpful in this manual. Once you have MySQL up and running create a database for the osCommerce installation, the database name doesn't matter.

3  Download the PhpMyAdmin package, unzip it and put it in the root of your web server, follow instructions included in the package.

4  Install a mail server, I use ArGoSoft mail server for windows. If anyone knows an easily configurable open source mail server for windows please email me. Setup the shop's mail domain on your local machine. This will enable you to simulate the sending & receiving of mail through osCommerce.

5  Lastly install osCommerce, follow the installation instructions included in the download, go for a recent stable release when downloading.

3  Launch PhpMyAdmin on your local machine by opening http://localhost/phpmyadmin/index.php. Choose your osCommerce database from the drop down on the left.

Version 2.5.4 of phpMyAdmin was used in this tutorial, other versions I'm sure are similar

4  Select the "Export" link to export your local osCommerce database tables.

5  Remember to choose the "Select all" link under "Export" to choose all the tables in the database.

6  Under "SQL options" make sure "Structure", "Enclose table and field names with backquotes" and "Add AUTO_INCREMENT value" are all checked.

7  Only check "Add 'drop table'" if you already have tables on the server database and you would like to replace them.

8  You can choose "Comments" in the "Add into comments" section if you have made any column comments in your database tables.

9  Check "Data", "Complete inserts" and "Save as file" on the same page.

10  Provide a name for the SQL dump file in the "File name template:" field, don't worry about providing a .sql file extension as one will be added to the file.