About OrangeHRM & Open Source Software

• What is OrangeHRM?
• What is Open Source?

• What is LAMP? What is WAMP?
• What are the required software to run OrangeHRM?
• How to install OrangeHRM manually on Linux?
• How to install OrangeHRM manually on Windows?

OrangeHRM is an Open Source HRM system. It provides an ideal solution for small and medium sized enterprises looking for an inexpensive way to effectively manage and develop their human resources.

Easy to install and easy to use it facilitates a vast range of HR features which will match the requirements of the company’s main HR management activities.

Briefly, Open Source software refers to programs in which the source code is available to the general public for use and/or modification from its original design, free of charge. You can find the exact definition here.

Open Source has evolved as a flexible low cost alternative to proprietary software owned by corporations. Typically Open Source software is created as a collaborative effort in which programmers improve upon the code and share the changes within the community. With OrangeHRM we strive to develop a large community of both programmers and HR professionals, who can contribute to make OrangeHRM the best Open Source HRM system in the world.

LAMP is a set of open source software programs consisting of the Linux Operating System, Apache Web Server, MySQL database and PHP scripting language. In the last couple of years, the LAMP stack has become a viable alternative to proprietary software because of its ease-of-use, ubiquity, low-cost and enterprise-scale functionality.

You will need to be running an Operating System that supports the Apache HTTP Server and MySQL database server. In addition to that following pre-requisites must be installed.

1. Apache HTTP Server 1.3 or later
2. MySQL 5.0 or later
3. PHP 5.1.0 or later

Instead of installing above mentioned pre-requisites separately, it is possible to install a stack which has MySQL, Apache and PHP configured to work together.

For Linux Installation these steps should be followed;

1. Retrieve the PHP source of OrangeHRM onto the directory that is configured as Apache Server htdocs directory;
   ex: /var/html/orangehrm/
2. change the owner & group of the source directory (and all files and sub-directories within it) to apache. Run the following command in bash.
   ex: /var/html/orangehrm/
   chown apache /var/html/orangehrm/
3. now you need to create the database. To do this get MySQL prompt (you should be logged in as a user having rights create databases and users). Create the database using command; (please note down the database name)
   CREATE DATABASE [orangehrm-db-name]
   then you need to create the tables using the script dbscript.sql residing in /orangehrm/dbscript directory. Then type in command
   SOURCE [path-to-doc-root]/orangehrm/dbscript/dbscript.sql
4. In the MySQL server create a user account with all privileges, please note down the username and password since it will be required to configure the application to give it access to the database in step (5). You will also need the database name given in step (3). Use the commands as follows;
   GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON [orangehrm-db-name].* TO '[username]'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY '[password]' WITH GRANT OPTION;
   
   SET PASSWORD FOR '[username]'@'%' = OLD_PASSWORD('[password]');
5. Then you have to configure the application to give the authentication information it requires to access MySQL server. To do this rename file Conf.php-distribution(in /orangehrm/lib/Confs/Conf.php)to Conf.php and edit following settings. Set the following parameters;
   
   $this->dbhost = '[IP address of MySQL server]';
   $this->dbport = '[port no, of MySQL server]';
   $this->dbname = '[orangehrm-db-name]';
   $this->dbuser = '[username]'; //the user name of the account you created
   $this->dbpass = '[password]'; //the user name of the account you created
   $this->smtphost = '[SMTP server DNS or IP address]'; //the DNS or IP address
6. Start or restart Apache server

For Windows Installation these steps should be followed;

1. Extract the PHP source of OrangeHRM onto the directory that is configured as Apache Server htdocs directory;
   ex: c:\apache\Apache\htdocs\orangehrm\
2. Now you need to create the database. To do this get MySQL prompt (you should be logged in as a user having rights create databases and users). Create the database using command; (please note down the database name)
   CREATE DATABASE [orangehrm-db-name]
   then you need to create the tables using the script dbscript.sql residing in /orangehrm/dbscript directory. Then type in command
3. SOURCE c:\apache\Apache\htdocs\orangehrm\dbscript\dbscript.sql
4. In the MySQL server create a user account with all privileges, please note down the username and password since it will be required to configure the application to give it access to the database in step (5). You will also need the database name given in step (2). Use the commands as follows;
   GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON [orangehrm-db-name].* TO '[username]'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY '[password]' WITH GRANT OPTION;
   SET PASSWORD FOR '[username]'@'%' = OLD_PASSWORD('[password]');
5. Then you have to configure the application to give the authentication information it requires to access MySQL server. To do this rename file Conf.php-distribution(in /orangehrm/lib/Confs/Conf.php)to Conf.php and edit following settings. Set the following parameters;
   $this->dbhost = '[IP address of MySQL server]';
   $this->dbport = '[port no, of MySQL server]';
   $this->dbname = '[orangehrm-db-name] ';
   $this->dbuser = '[username]'; //the user name of the account you created
   $this->dbpass = '[password]'; //the user name of the account you created
   $this->smtphost = '[SMTP server DNS or IP address]'; //the DNS or IP address