iSean

unbelievable. here it is 2006 and installing a mySQL database is still not simple for the average joe (or sean in this case). i have the process down with my regular hosting company. it took me a while to figure out their intricacies, but once i did i was golden. and, bluehost (my preferred hosting company) also provide fantastico, which is an auto installer for many mySQL databases (e.g., WordPress, PHPBB forums, Drupal, Moodle, etc.). many folks in the know don’t recommend fantastico, but for people like me who like to experiment, fantastico is a fantastic way to fiddle with various tools very quickly.

anyway, i have various domain names. my ed205.com domain hosted by another popular company (iPowerWeb). they don’t make installing mySQL databases very easy compared to bluehost. maybe if i’d started with iPowerWeb then i’d think differently. hmmm. anyway, i’ve spent the last hour trying to get a Drupal installation to work and i am getting errors up the whazoo.

Warning: Table ‘ed205com_drupal.sessions’ doesn’t exist query: SELECT sid FROM sessions WHERE sid = ‘d796da670a79fd58aba93924eff2d6b0′ in /addresstoinstallonmysystem/drupal/includes/database.mysql.inc on line 120

Warning: Table ‘ed205com_drupal.users’ doesn’t exist query: SELECT u.* FROM users u WHERE u.uid = 0 in /addresstoinstallonmysystem/drupal/includes/database.mysql.inc on line 120

the warnings/errors continue for a few pages. i’ve dabbled that way and this way to no avail. i’ll now head off to the drupal forums looking for a solution to what i am doing wrong. when i installed this stuff on bluehost earlier this summer, i don’t even recall giving any part of the install a second thought. hmph!

i am just amazed that something so common is still something so difficult. yeah, fantastico is a step in the right direction, but as i mentioned earlier, folks in the know seem to think a fantastico install is not as secure and not as healthy in the long run.  i know nobody is purposefully making this stuff difficult, but when a guy like me has trouble like this, there is still a huge gap to overcome with regard to using this kind of technology. that’s unfortunate.

then again, i’ll probably post this and find my solution in the next 30 seconds . . . and, it’ll be something super simple. such is life. ;~)