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System requirements

Up to date for CS-Cart and Multi-Vendor 4.21.2

What your store needs

CS-Cart and Multi-Vendor run on most typical servers, from good shared hosting to a dedicated machine. Below you will find everything the store needs, first in plain words and then in detail for the server administrator.

PHP 7.4 to 8.38.2 or 8.3 recommended

MySQL / MariaDBor Percona Server

Linux64-bit system

Apache or Nginxweb server

In plain words: a store is a restaurant

You do not need to know anything about servers to understand what a store needs. Picture a restaurant. Every part has its own job, and if even one of them is missing, the guest does not get dinner.

The building

server and Linux

The place where everything happens. More guests need a bigger place.

The chef

PHP

Cooks every page of the store. The chef has to know the current recipe, which means the right version.

The pantry

MySQL database

Products, customers and orders are kept here, neatly sorted and close at hand.

The waiter

Apache or Nginx

Takes the guest's order and brings back the finished dish, which is the page.

Kitchen tools

PHP extensions

Knives, pots and an oven. Without them the chef cannot handle images, invoices or payments.

A bonus for speed: Redis or APCu is the counter right next to the stove. The chef keeps the most used things on it and does not have to run to the pantry every time, so the store becomes noticeably faster.

The essentials in five points

If you are choosing a hosting provider, show them this list. Most good hosting companies meet it without any changes.

PHP

From 7.4 to 8.3. For a new store choose PHP 8.2 or 8.3. Supported modes are mod_php, FPM and FastCGI.

Database

MySQL 4.1 or newer, MariaDB 5.5 or newer, or Percona Server 5.5 or newer, with mysqli or pdo_mysql support.

Operating system

Unix-like, preferably Linux. Both 32-bit and 64-bit systems work, but we recommend 64-bit. Ubuntu 18.04 or newer.

Web server

Apache or Nginx. The store runs on almost any server with PHP and MySQL, but these two are the most stable.

Type of hosting

Preferably a VPS or a dedicated server. Store upgrades run faster there than on shared hosting.

Which PHP version?

Each PHP version is supported from a specific release of the software. The current release 4.21.2 runs on PHP 7.4 to 8.3. On PHP 8.4 the store stops at startup and asks you to change the version.

7.4

since 4.12.1

minimum

8.0

since 4.15.1

works

8.1

since 4.17.1

works

8.2

since 4.18.1

recommended

8.3

since 4.19.1

recommended

8.4

not yet

unsupported

Do not downgrade PHP. If the store has already been running on PHP 7.1 or newer, do not switch it back to an older PHP. Customers and administrators may then be unable to log in.

Running an older version? For releases 4.19 and 4.20 the vendor marks PHP 8.3 as supported in test mode, and releases 4.12 to 4.16 stop at PHP 7.4 or 8.0. Before you upgrade PHP, check your store version or renew your license.

PHP extensions, the kitchen tools

The CS-Cart installer checks these extensions before installation and shows what is missing. Where you see the word or, one of the listed options is enough.

requiredoptional, but worth having

DatabaseStores products, customers and orders.

mysqli or pdo_mysql

Network connectionsPayments, shipping carriers, sending mail over SMTP and store upgrades.

curlsockets

Image processingThumbnails and watermarks. Without it you cannot add product images.

imagick or gd

EXIF dataCorrect rotation of photos taken with a phone.

exif

JSON and XMLMany core features of the software rely on them.

jsonxmllibxmlSimpleXMLdomxmlreaderxmlwriter

SOAPCommunication with some shipping services.

soap

Accented letters and other alphabetsCorrect handling of multibyte text and character types.

mbstringiconvctype

ArchivesInstalling add-ons and themes, and upgrading the store.

Pharzip

File type detectionSafe checking of the type of uploaded files.

fileinfo

CryptographyPayments, integrations and more secure session keys.

openssl

Fast cacheCache and sessions in memory instead of on disk. We recommend Redis or APCu.

redisapcusqlite3

FTPSetting file permissions while installing the store and add-ons. Requires an FTP server.

ftp

Details for the server administrator

This part is for the person who configures the server. Click a topic to expand it.

PHP and server settings

file_uploads and allow_url_fopen must be enabled.
safe_mode must be disabled.
SELinux and AppArmor should be disabled on a Linux server.

These PHP functions must not be blocked in disable_functions:

ini_setset_time_limitevalsystemexecshell_execpassthruescapeshellargescapeshellcmdftp_connectftp_loginftp_execftp_getftp_putftp_nb_fputftp_rawftp_rawlist

Apache

mod_rewrite for SEO friendly URLs.
mod_headers for CORS and widget mode.
mod_ssl for encrypted connections.
mod_deflate for page compression, recommended.
mod_security should be disabled or configured so that it does not block the store admin panel.
The MultiViews option should be disabled, because it confuses SEO URLs with store directories.

The .htaccess file must be allowed to use these directives:

DirectoryIndexDenyAllowOptionsOrderAddHandlerRewriteEngineRewriteBaseRewriteCondRewriteRule

Images: Imagick or GD

The store needs one of these two extensions. Both create thumbnails and apply watermarks, but Imagick gives clearly better image quality and it is our choice.

Imagick is an extension from the PECL repository. It requires ImageMagick 6.5.3-10 or newer, and we recommend 6.9.3-10 or newer because it contains an important security fix. ImageMagick 7 is supported.
GD is part of PHP. Install it together with the FreeType font library.

Recommendations from the CS-Cart architects

A virtual or dedicated server instead of shared hosting.
Redis or APCu set as the store cache backend.
OPcache enabled to speed up PHP execution.
OpenSSL in PHP for better protected session keys.
A 64-bit system, which does not limit RAM to 4 GB.

How powerful a server?

It depends on the number of products, customers and enabled features. The vendor gives an example for a store with about 50 customers per hour. A marketplace with many vendors, a large catalog or integrations with wholesalers need more.

1 core

2.4 GHz CPU

1 GB

of RAM

10 GB

of disk space

Where to host the store?

The requirements are standard and thousands of hosting companies meet them. If you would rather not search on your own, pick one of three proven options.

RECOMMENDED

Our hosting

SoftSolid, CS-Cart Poland