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IonCube Installation
Summary
IonCube is an encryption/decryption tool for PHP applications; data can be secured through it. It also restricts unauthorized PHP applications and can assist in optimizing your website's pages. IonCube loaders are used for decoding encoded files while running on a web server. To learn more about this, please visit their official site.
Our servers are IonCube compatible. If you need IonCube to use a script on your website, you need to install it for your Apache/PHP installation. If you need IonCube to access scripts from within the /cpanel, /whm, or /webmail interface, you need to install it for cPanel/WHM/Webmail installation. There are different methods for each, and the instructions for doing both are discussed in the sections below:
Installing IonCube for cPanel/WHM/Webmail
Installing via the WHM
Initially, you need to enable the IonCube loader for plugins that use cPanel's version of PHP, like Softaculous. And to do this GUI method of installation, you must have administrative privileges, namely, the root password.
Note: This section only covers how to enable IonCube in cPanel's internal version of PHP. If you want to activate IonCube for your public website, you need to use Easy Apache 4 in WHM. Instructions on these can be found in the next section.
- Log into WHM.
- Using the search bar on the left, look for the Server Configuration section and click Tweak Settings from the list.
- Navigate to the PHP tab or use the find box and type loader.
- Click the check box next to Ioncube and hit on the Save button.
Installing via the CLI
To complete this task, you must have shell access to the server as the user root (ex: ssh client like Putty)
- Log in to the shell as the user root.
- Edit /etc/cpanel/cpanel.config and find the line that starts with phploader=. If there is no value after the equal sign, you can append Ioncube to it (ex: phploader=ioncube). If there is another loader already in place, you can add your new loader by adding a comma first and then adding your loader (ex: phploader=someloader,ioncube)
- Next, execute the following command:
/usr/local/cpanel/whostmgr/bin/whostmgr2 –updatetweaksettings
- And then /usr/local/cpanel/bin/checkphpini
- And finally /usr/local/cpanel/bin/install_php_inis
Installing IonCube Loader for Apache/PHP
Installing IonCube using the CLI version of PHPExtensionManager
This is the most preferred method of many, all it does is install the loaders and does not require you to rebuild Apache and PHP. Thus, making it the fastest method. To use this method, you need to have shell access to the server as the user root via either the console or SSH.
- Log in to the console as root.
- Run this command:
/scripts/phpextensionmgr install IonCubeLoader
After installing ionCube Loader, You can verify it by the Linux command line using the command below:
php -v
Or we can also create a small PHP script (info.php) in your web server document root using the following content and access the webpage.
<?php
phpinfo();
?>
Now access created PHP script in a web browser, and you will find that the ionCube loader is enabled in your PHP install.
Installing IonCube using the WHM
Note: This method uses the GUI version of EasyApache to install the Ioncube loader; if you do not want to rebuild Apache and PHP, then don't use this method.
- Log in to the WHM as the user root.
- On the left-hand side, scroll down and click the EasyApache link
- Under Profile, select Previous Saved Config and click the Start customizing based on profile button.
- Under Apache Version, click Next Step
- Under PHP Version, click Next Step
- Under Short Options List, check the Ioncube Loader for PHP option and click the Save and Build button.
- This process will take a while to complete, roughly 10-30 minutes depending on your hardware.
Installing IonCube using the CLI version of EasyApache
This method requires shell access as the user root via either the console or SSH.
- Log in to the console as root.
- Run this command:
/scripts/easyapache
- Select Previously Saved Config and then select Start customizing based on profile
- Under Apache Version, choose Next Step
- Under PHP Version, select Next Step
- Under Short Option Lists, check the IonCube Loader for PHP and then select Save and Build
- This process will take a while to complete, roughly 10-30 minutes depending on your hardware.
Important: For these changes to apply to any site or files hosted outside of your public_html directory, you will need to change your PHP settings to use Single php.ini or FastCGI. For instructions on doing this, please see our article, PHP Config.