Basic Server Requirements

The following are required on any server intending to run SMF.

• A web server with approximately 20MB of available disk space. Much more is recommended so that other content can be uploaded over time.
• A webserver that supports PHP, such as Apache, Nginx, or Internet Information Server (IIS).
• The version of PHP supported varies depending on the version of SMF you are using. See the below table for supported versions.

PHP Requirements

Version of SMF	Version of PHP
2.1.0-Current	7.1-8.4
2.0.19-2.0.19	5.3-8.0
2.0.18-2.0.18	5.3-7.4
2.0.16-2.0.17	5.3-7.3
2.0.14-2.0.15	5.4-7.1
2.0.7-2.0.13	4.1-5.6
2.0-2.0.6	4.1-5.4

PHP Configuration
The following must be changed in the php.ini file:

• The engine directive must be set to On.
• The magic_quotes_sybase directive must be set to Off.
• The session.save_path directive must be set to a valid directory or empty.
• The file_uploads directive must be set to On.
• The upload_tmp_dir directive must be set to a valid directory or empty.
• The fileinfo must be enabled.

Database Engine
One of the following databases must be installed:

•         SMF 2.1
  
  • MySQL 5.6.0 or higher and PHP MySQL client API 5.6.0 or higher.
  • PostgreSQL 9.6.0 or higher (standard_conforming_strings should be on, starting from PostgreSQL 9.1 default is on)
  • MariaDB. SMF 2.1 is designed for PostgreSQL and MySQL, and has been shown to work well with MariaDB 10.x as well. If you run into MariaDB specific issues, please report them on Github.
  • Other database servers that offer drop-in MySQL compatibility are also known to work, but are not supported.
•         SMF 2.0
  
  • MySQL 4.0.18 or higher (at least 4.1.0 would be better) and PHP MySQL client API 4.0.18 or higher.
  • PostgreSQL 8.0 or higher (standard_conforming_strings must be set to off, starting from PostgreSQL 9.1 default is on)
  • SQLite SQLite 2. x (SMF is not compatible with SQLite 3.x)

Database Configuration
The following are the requirements for the database:

• For a clean SMF installation, at least 2 MB of storage space in the database. Please note that this is only enough for the installation.
• The database user must have at least the following privileges:
  
  • SELECT
  • INSERT
  • UPDATE
  • DELETE
  • ALTER
  • INDEX
• The database user must have the CREATE and DROP privileges during installation, conversion, and some package installs.

Server Recommendations
These are not required but may be beneficial to your SMF install and enable you to use more functions.

• GNU Aspell 0.50 or higher (with appropriate dictionaries) for spell-checking functionality.
• Apache 2.0.x or above with AcceptPathInfo set to On for queryless URL support.
• GD Graphics Library 2.0 or higher.

PHP Recommandations
PHP with the following set in your php.ini file:

• max_input_time set to a value of at least 30.
• post_max_size and upload_max_filesize set to the size of the largest attachments you wish to be able to upload.
• memory_limit set to at least 32M.
• max_execution_time set to at least 15.
• register_globals set to Off.
• session.use_trans_sid set to Off.
• safe mode disabled, or PHP suExec enabled.
• SMF 2.1: mbstring and fileinfo libraries.
• SMF 2.0: BCMath library enabled for using the OpenID registration method.
• mod_security is disabled (please see Mod security for more information).

Basic Client Requirements
Any web browser that supports HTML5 and CSS3 and that is still supported by its vendor.