# Server Requirements

Before installing Chamilo 2.0, verify that your server meets the following requirements.

## Software Requirements

### PHP

| Requirement     | Minimum | Recommended  |
| --------------- | ------- | ------------ |
| **PHP version** | 8.2     | 8.3 or later |

### Required PHP Extensions

| Extension                        | Purpose                                                        |
| -------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **intl**                         | Internationalization (date, number, and string formatting)     |
| **gd**                           | Image processing (thumbnails, CAPTCHA)                         |
| **curl**                         | HTTP requests (API integrations, external services)            |
| **zip**                          | Handling ZIP archives (SCORM packages, bulk imports/exports)   |
| **mbstring**                     | Multibyte string handling (UTF-8 support)                      |
| **xml**                          | XML parsing (SCORM, RSS, SOAP)                                 |
| **json**                         | JSON encoding/decoding                                         |
| **openssl**                      | Cryptographic operations (HTTPS, password hashing, tokens)     |
| **fileinfo**                     | MIME type detection for uploaded files                         |
| **pdo\_mysql** or **pdo\_pgsql** | Database connectivity (install the one matching your database) |
| **opcache**                      | Opcode caching (strongly recommended for performance)          |
| **apcu**                         | User-level caching (recommended)                               |
| **xapian**                       | Full-text search (optional, only if you use search)            |

### Database

| Database       | Minimum Version |
| -------------- | --------------- |
| **MySQL**      | 8.0             |
| **MariaDB**    | 10.4            |
| **PostgreSQL** | 13              |

MySQL or MariaDB is the most common choice and the most thoroughly tested.

### Web Server

| Server     | Notes                                                                                                               |
| ---------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Apache** | Requires `mod_rewrite` enabled. Chamilo ships with an `.htaccess` file for URL rewriting.                           |
| **Nginx**  | Requires manual configuration for URL rewriting. See the Symfony Nginx documentation for a reference configuration. |

### Build Tools

| Tool              | Purpose                                                                 |
| ----------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Composer**      | PHP dependency management. Required to install Chamilo's PHP libraries. |
| **Node.js** (18+) | JavaScript runtime. Required to build frontend assets.                  |
| **npm**           | JavaScript package manager. Installed with Node.js.                     |

## Hardware Requirements

| Resource       | Minimum                 | Recommended                                                 |
| -------------- | ----------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
| **RAM**        | 2 GB                    | 4 GB or more                                                |
| **CPU**        | 1 core                  | 2+ cores                                                    |
| **Disk space** | 1 GB (application only) | 20+ GB (including uploaded content)                         |
| **Disk type**  | HDD                     | SSD (significantly improves database and cache performance) |

These are baseline figures. Actual requirements depend on the number of concurrent users and the volume of content hosted.

## Operating System

| OS          | Notes                                                                  |
| ----------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Linux**   | Recommended. Ubuntu 22.04+, Debian 12+, AlmaLinux 9+, or equivalent.   |
| **Windows** | Possible but not recommended for production. Use WSL2 for development. |
| **macOS**   | Development only.                                                      |

## Network Requirements

* A domain name pointing to your server.
* An SSL/TLS certificate for HTTPS (Let's Encrypt provides free certificates).
* Outbound SMTP access if sending emails directly (or use a third-party email service).
* Port 443 (HTTPS) and optionally port 80 (HTTP, for redirect to HTTPS).

## Checking Requirements

After placing the Chamilo source on your server, you can check requirements with the Symfony console:

```bash
php bin/console chamilo:requirements
```

Or check PHP configuration directly:

```bash
php -m          # List installed extensions
php -i          # Full PHP info
```

## Tips

* **Use PHP-FPM** with Apache or Nginx for better performance than mod\_php.
* **Separate your database** onto a dedicated server for platforms expecting more than 500 concurrent users.
* **Use SSD storage** -- Database-heavy applications like Chamilo benefit significantly from fast disk I/O.