Help4.x:Site Global Configuration

Description

The Global Configuration screen allows you to configure the Joomla site with your personal settings. Settings made in this screen apply to the whole site.

How to access

• System → Setup Panel → Global Configuration

Screenshot

Form Fields

Site

Complete screenshot.

Site

• Site Name. Enter the name of the website. This will be used in various locations (for example the Backend browser title bar and Site Offline pages).
• Site Offline. Select whether access to the Frontend is available.
  • Offline Message.
    • Use Custom Message: The message uses the value defined in the 'Custom Message' field.
    • Use Site Language Default Message: The message uses the value defined in the site language ini file.
  • Offline Image. Select an image to be displayed on the offline page. Make sure the image is less than 400px wide.
• Frontend Editing. Select editing for modules and menu items.
• Default Editor. Select the default text editor. Registered Users will be able to change their preference in their personal details.
• Default Captcha. Select the default captcha for your site. You may need to enter required information in the captcha plugin.
• Default Access Level. Select the default access level for new items.
• Default List Limit. Sets the default length of lists in the Backend for all users.
• Default Feed Limit. Select the number of content items to show in the feeds.
• Feed Email Address. The RSS and Atom newsfeeds include the author's email address.
  • Author Email: Use each author's email from Users in the news feed.
  • Site Email: Include the site From Email address for each article.

Metadata

• Site Meta Description. Enter a description of the overall website that is to be used by search engines.
• Robots. Robots instructions.
  • index, follow: Index this page and follow the links on this page.
  • noindex, follow: Do not index this page, but still follow the links on the page. For example, you might do this for a site map page where you want the links to be indexed but you don't want this page to show in search engines.
  • index, nofollow: Index this page, but do not follow any links on the page. For example, you might want to do this for an events calendar, where you want the page to show in search engines but you do not want to index each event.
  • noindex, nofollow: Do not index this page or follow any links on the page.
• Content Rights. Describe what rights others have to use this content. This is conveyed to search engines using the 'rights' meta tag in the HTML head.
• Author Meta Tag. Show the author meta tag when viewing articles.
• Joomla Version. Controls whether the 'generator' meta tag in the HTML document's header in the Frontend and in Atom feeds includes the exact version of the Joomla site. It is recommended to hide it for security reasons.

SEO

• Search Engine Friendly URLs. Select if the URLs are optimised for Search Engines.
• Use URL Rewriting.
  • Apache and Litespeed: Rename 'htaccess.txt' to '.htaccess'
  • IIS: Rename 'web.config.txt' to 'web.config'
  • NginX: you must configure your server
  • Other servers or if unsure: please consult your hosting company
• Add Suffix to URL. If yes, the system will add a suffix to the URL based on the document type.
• Unicode Aliases. Choose between transliteration and unicode aliases. Transliteration is the default.
• Site Name in Page Titles. Begin or end all Page Titles with the site name (for example, "My Site Name - My Article Name").

Cookie

• Cookie Domain. Domain to use when setting session cookies. Precede domain with '.' if cookie should be valid for all subdomains.
• Cookie Path. Path the cookie should be valid for.

System

Complete screenshot.

Debug

• Debug System. If enabled, diagnostic information, language translation, and SQL errors (if present) will be displayed. The information will be displayed at the foot of every page you view within the Joomla Backend and Frontend. It is not advisable to leave the debug mode activated when running a live website.
• Debug Language. Select if the debugging indicators **...** or ??...?? for the Joomla Language files will be displayed. Debug Language will work without Debug System being activated, but you will not get the additional detailed references that will help you correct any errors.
  • Language Display. Select if you should display the language constant or the language value when debugging the language strings.

Cache

• System Cache. Enable caching and set caching level.
  • Conservative level: smaller system cache.
  • Progressive level: faster, bigger system cache, includes module renderers cache. Not appropriate for extremely large sites.
  • Cache Handler.
    • File: Native caching mechanism is file-based. Please make sure the cache folders are writable.
  • Platform Specific Caching. Enable when HTML output on mobile differs from other devices.
  • Cache Time (minutes). The maximum length of time in minutes for a cache file to be stored before it is refreshed.
  • Path to Cache Folder. Specify a writable folder to store cache files if you do not wish to use the default folder.

Session

• Session Handler. The mechanism by which Joomla identifies a User once they are connected to the website using non-persistent cookies.
  • Database: The database session handler is the default handler because it is the only one that Joomla can fully configure and control on its own.
  • Filesystem: The filesystem handler will be slightly more performant than the database handler, but it requires PHP to be configured properly otherwise it will crash and Joomla will be totally unusable.
    • Session Save Path. Enter a full filesystem path. Ensure the path has appropriate permissions for PHP to read and write files, and if 'session garbage collection' is enabled to delete files from it.
      If this path is not set, Joomla will rely on the PHP session.save_path INI configuration or fallback to the system temporary directory (as defined by the sys_get_temp_dir() PHP function).
      If neither of those paths are configured or the permissions are wrong then it's game over. To recover, edit the configuration.php file and set $session_handler = 'database'.
  • Other handlers (APCu, Memcached, Redis, and WinCache) all rely on optional PHP extensions and may be available if your system supports them. APCu or WinCache may be no better than the "plain" filesystem option. The Memcached and Redis handlers are overkill for Joomla in a typical shared hosting environment. Those types of handlers succeed if you are deploying Joomla in a load balanced environment where multiple servers are involved and you need the session data for the application to be available across all servers.
• Session Lifetime (minutes). Auto log out a User after they have been inactive for the entered number of minutes. Do not set too high.
• Shared Sessions. When enabled, a user's session is shared between the Frontend and Backend sections of the site. Note that changing this value will invalidate all existing sessions on the site.
  This is not available when the Force HTTPS option is set to 'Administrator Only'.
• Track Session Metadata.
  • Yes: Additional metadata about a user's session (including their username, user ID, and which application they are logged into) will be logged to the session database table.
  • No: Features dependent on this data will be unavailable.

Server

Complete screenshot.

Server

• Path to Temp Folder. Please specify a writable folder to store temporary files.
• Gzip Page Compression.
  • Yes: Automatically compress the generated HTML pages with Gzip, making them smaller and increasing your site's speed score.
  • No: If your server is already doing that for you or if it conflicts with third party extensions.
• Error Reporting. This parameter sets the level of error reporting to be used by PHP on the Joomla site.
  • System Default: Leaves the level of error reporting to that set up in the server.
  • None: Switches off error reporting.
  • Simple: Override the server setting to give a basic level of reporting.
  • Maximum: Override the server setting to reporting of all errors.
    Should your Joomla site fail to the extent that it is not possible to use the administrator page to activate error reporting, you can switch on full error reporting by editing the 'configuration.php' file. Changing the '$error_reporting' parameter in that file to a value of 'maximum' is the equivalent to setting Error Reporting to 'Maximum'.
• Force HTTPS. Force site access in the selected areas to occur only with HTTPS (encrypted HTTP connections with the https:// protocol prefix) and also force the use of secure cookies. Note, you must have HTTPS enabled on your server to utilise this option.

Location

• Website Time Zone. Choose a city in the list to configure the date and time for display.

Web Services

• Enable CORS. Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) enables scripts running in a browser to interact with resources from a different origin.
  • Access-Control-Allow-Origin. Specifies the origin allowed to access Web services on this site, sent back in response to a preflight request. Default: * (=all).
  • Access-Control-Allow-Headers. Specifies the header(s) sent back in response to a preflight request. Default: Content-Type,X-Joomla-Token.
  • Access-Control-Allow-Methods. Specifies the Web service method(s) allowed to access on this site, sent back in response to a preflight request. Default: all methods available for the requested route.

Proxy

• Behind Load Balancer. If your site is behind a load balancer or reverse proxy, enable this setting so that IP addresses and other configurations within Joomla automatically take this into account.
• Enable Outbound Proxy. Some hosts do not allow any network access from your site to the outside world by default and require you to manually configure an outbound proxy.
  • Outbound Proxy Host. Host (domain) name or IP address.
  • Outbound Proxy Port.
  • Outbound Proxy Username. Leave blank if your outbound proxy does not require authentication.
  • Outbound Proxy Password.

Database

• Database Type. The type of database in use, selected during the installation process.
  Do not edit this field unless absolutely necessary (for example the transfer of the database to a new hosting provider).
• Host. The hostname for your database entered during the installation process.
  Do not edit this field unless absolutely necessary (for example the transfer of the database to a new hosting provider).
• Database Username. The username for access to your database entered during the installation process.
  Do not edit this field unless absolutely necessary (for example the transfer of the database to a new hosting provider).
• Database Password. The password to be used to access the database.
  Do not edit this field unless absolutely necessary (for example the transfer of the database to a new hosting provider).
• Database Name. The name for your database entered during the installation process.
  Do not edit this field unless absolutely necessary (for example the transfer of the database to a new hosting provider).
• Database Tables Prefix. The prefix used for your database tables, created during the installation process.
  Do not edit this field unless absolutely necessary (for example the transfer of the database to a new hosting provider).
• Connection Encryption. (Default/One-way Authentication/Two-way Authentication)
  • Default (server controlled)
  • One-way authentication
    • Verify Server Certificate.
      • Path to CA File. File system path.
  • Two-way authentication
    • Path to Private Key File. File system location.
    • Path to Certificate File. File system location.
    • Verify Server Certificate.
      • Path to CA File. File system path.
    • Supported Cipher Suite (optional). No entry required (only recommended for experienced users) – for more details, see the documentation of your database.

Mail

• Send Mail. Select Yes to turn on mail sending, select No to turn off mail sending. Warning: It is recommended to put the site offline when disabling the mail function!
• Disable Mass Mail. Select Yes to disable the Mass Mail Users function, select No to make it active.
• From Email. The email address that will be used to send site email.
• From Name. Text displayed in the header "From:" field when sending a site email. Usually the site name.
• Reply To Email. The email address that will be used to receive end user(s) reply.
• Reply To Name. Text displayed in the header "To:" field when end user(s) replying to received email.
• Mailer. Select which mailer for the delivery of site email.

Logging

Complete screenshot.

Logging

• Path to Log Folder. Please specify a folder to store log files.
• Log Almost Everything. Logs everything, except deprecated APIs.
• Log Deprecated API. Logs deprecated APIs.

Custom logging

• Log Priorities. Can be used to manage custom logging. Select the events you want to see in the log file. Default is 'All'. The item(s) can be selected/deselected by clicking the dropdown list.
• Log Categories. A comma separated list of log categories to include or exclude. Common log categories include but are not limited to: database, databasequery, database-error, deprecated and jerror. If empty, custom logging is disabled.
• Log Category Mode. Sets the mode for the list of log categories above.

Text Filters

Complete screenshot.

These text filter settings will be applied to all text editor fields submitted by users in the selected groups.

These filtering options give more control over the HTML your content providers submit. You can be as strict or as liberal as you require to suit your site's needs. The filtering is opt-in and the default settings provide good protection against markup commonly associated with website attacks.

Permissions Tab

Complete screenshot.

Manage the permission settings for user groups.

• Site Login. Site Login for users in the selected group.
• Administrator Login. Administrator Login for users in the selected group.
• Web Services Login. Web Services Login for users in the selected group.
• Offline Access. Allows users in the selected group to access to the Frontend site when site is offline.
• Super User. Allows users in the selected selected group to perform any action over the whole site regardless of any other permission settings.
• Configure Options Only. Allows users in the group to edit the options except the permissions of any extension.
• Access Administration Interface. Allows users in the selected group to access all of the administration interface except Global Configuration.
• Create. Allows users in the selected group to create any content in any extension.
• Delete. Allows users in the selected group to delete any content in any extension.
• Edit. Allows users in the selected group to edit any content in any extension.
• Edit State. Allows users in the selected group to edit the state of any content in any extension.
• Edit Own. Allows users in the selected group to edit any content they own in any extension.
• Edit Custom Field Value. Allows users in the selected group to edit any value of custom fields submitted in any extension.

Toolbar

At the top of the page you will see the toolbar shown in the Screenshot above.

• Save. Saves the options and stays in the current screen.
• Save & Close. Saves the options and closes the current screen.
• Close. Closes the current screen and returns to the previous screen without saving any modifications you may have made.
• Toggle Inline Help. Show help text below some options.
• Help. Opens this help screen.

Quick Tips

• Most, if not all, of these settings can be set once and then left alone.
• If major modifications need to be made, then consider taking the site offline to test it and to make sure everything is in working order.
• The settings are saved in '<Joomla-root>/configuration.php'. You have to either activate the FTP-layer or make the 'configuration.php' file writable to save your changes.

Related Information

• Control panel
• Info about .htaccess
• ACL Tutorial for Joomla! 3