Our present guideline is a technical document, and it is complete in the technical sense. However, we have tried to make it simple and comprehensive for any non-tech power user or existing Magento store manager with prior knowledge and experience with Magento® stores of previous versions.
Our aim is to provide a guideline that leads to smooth and soothing extension installations of Magento® 2.
Updates, Comments and Suggestions:
We are a team of progressive nature of Magento® developers who are always scrappy to know values of their contributions in life and professions of their esteemed clienteles to update their knowledge, skills, and experiences in the field of Magento® extension development.
Therefore, we warmly invite anyone who has used our Magento® extensions of any version including Magento® 2 to drop their comments, valuable suggestions, and feedback of any kind. It may prove inspirations for us to improve our next products and our overall performance.
For more information on our services or to suggest us some time, contact us at cs@mconnectmedia.com
Understanding Standard Magento® 2 Extension Installation Process in a Nutshell
With Magento® 2, the Magento® Platform has revamped its look, design, and experiences to make it contemporary in ever-changing e-commerce horizon. Therefore, it has smoother and sleeker UI set for all purposes and new dashboard to bring intuition more.
If you are familiar with the interface of past versions of Magento® like Magento® 1x, you need to encounter a bit changed installation procedure and UI in the latest versions of Magento® 2x. You can go through our step-by-step guidelines for installations of Magento 1X and previous versions at Magento Extension Installation Guidelines (Step by Step) blog.
Magento Connect Manager is missing in a recent upgrade to Magento® 2x. Therefore, with Magento 2x versions, you have following three ways to accomplish Magento® 2 extension installations:
- Magento Component Manager
- Composer (Command Line Execution)
Manual Installation
Pre-Installation Checklist for Magento 2 Extension:
1. Backup
Since composer method and direct file transfer method via source code involves dealing with source code, so chances are high to disrupt the Magento® store functionality or feature with any small to big mistake or mishap. Therefore, taking a backup prior to doing anything is the best precautionary method to implement. There are multiple backup practices used in industry, but the following are the most recommended ones.
Backup your database
Using built-in backup system of Magento® o Using the command line o Using PHPMyAdmin
Backup app folder from root directory of Magento® source code
- Check your ‘Cron’ is running
- If you have compilation enabled for your site, disable it
- Turn on Configuration Cache
- Close all admin windows
Let’s check only most recommended things in brief:
Backup your Database
1. Using Built-in Backup System of Magento
Magento® platform offers built-in backup system and you can use it explicitly without any doubt. In order to access the same:
Go to System > Backup
You may find different backup options including system backup, database backup, media backup, and another component backup. Try to take all if you have enough disk space available otherwise; database backup is enough to restore your Magento® e-commerce store.
2. Turn on Configuration Cache & Disable Rests of Caches
Powerful cache mechanism is behind the performance secrete of Magento® platform in heavy e-commerce stores. Although it provides faster user experiences, it comes into the way of smooth installation process by creating issues on the server. Therefore, it is recommended that Magento® developers must disable the cache system, and you can do it following way:
Go to Admin Console > System > Cache Management
Select all kinds of caches through selecting/clicking top toggle/radio button except configuration cache because you are going to configure the system
Click drop-down menu and select “Disabled” option to disable all caches at a time
Method of Installation:
File Transfer (Manual Installation)
Note: This method requires familiarity with FTP, SSH, and Magento folder structure.
Required for Installations:
FTP/SSH access to your Magento® website o WinZip or Zip7 like software to unzip the downloaded zip files o Zip files downloaded from M-Connect Media web page.
Step 1: Download and Unzip Extension File
To access the extension file from M-Connect Media, you must have a valid account. Therefore, create an account by following the procedure given on the account creation module/page https://www.mconnectmedia.com/customer/account/login/
Download Zip files of your selected extension/s.
Step 2: Unzip the extension ZIP file
You may find ‘app’ folder in the downloaded files.
Step 3: Upload the extension file
Now, navigate to Magento 2 root directory then find out ‘app’ folder in it and Overwrite it with your downloaded ‘app’ folder.
For more precise step, you should go to your downloaded app folder and find out app/code/Ves folder in it and copy it.
Now, paste the Ves folder into the root directory app folder: Magentoroot/app/code/.
However, your job is not finished with copy-paste of the ‘app’ folder in root directly; it also requires an upgrade to enable it as an active extension working in Magento®. Therefore, you need to run following command for the upgrade of Magento® module.
Note:
"php bin/Magento setup:upgrade”
After accomplishment of the root directory upgrade process, you need to deploy the static view files, which have generated during the upgrade process in Magento® 2 root. Therefore, you have to run following command:
"php bin/Magento setup:static-content:deploy”
It may deploy static files to Magento® root file system. Of course, without flushing the Magento® cache, the above process of Magento® extension installation is incomplete.
Therefore,
Now, navigate to System>Cache Management
Select the all cache type by selecting master checkbox at the top
Navigate to ‘Flush Magento Cache’ button and refresh the cache.
Troubleshooting: Problems after Installation?
Below are listed some common issues most often arising after completing the installation of Magento modules, even though after following guidelines by the best way. We have listed some issues upfront here.
Regarding Display/Working of Installed Modules in Backend:
If such things happen with you, please try to refresh the cache manually. You can do so by deleting all content residing in the Magento® root directory. Now, navigate to:
Magento-root/var/cache/ and /var/generation/ for (Magento 2.2+: generated/code)
If your problem persists, check whether you have placed uploaded files in the correct/desirable locations in the root directory. Moreover, you need to set right permissions for all uploaded files so it becomes readable for the web server system.
Regarding Class X Error Message:
If you found such message, please go through the extension installation process again and assure you have uploaded all files in ‘app’ folder of Magento® root directory.
Regarding Error Messages like ‘Blank Page’ or ‘500/503 Error’ or ‘Exception Printing Disabled’:
It needs enabling of ‘Developer Mode’ in Magento® backend via .htaccess, so you can see real error messages, instead of such false message.
In the case, it fails, you need to add following code at the beginning of index.php file in Magento® root directory:
<?php
ini_set('display_errors', 1); ini_set('error_reporting', E_ALL);
?>
Of course, you need to remove the code as soon as you finish testing. If your problem still persists, you must contact our support team for real-time help or intensive on-site help.
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