Open Source dotCMS Aims to Ease Install Pains

By Irina Guseva | Published Oct 12, 2009

dotCMS (news, site), a J2EE/Java-friendly open source CMS, released a Windows installer for dotCMS v1.7 (famed for its plugin architecture). The installer should give users of different technical levels the ability to simply breeze through the dotCMS installation and get it up and running in a reasonable time.

The installer includes other bits of software needed for a dotCMS instance: the Java Runtime Environment 6, PostgreSQL 8.3 database, Apache Tomcat web server and the dotCMS itself with a starter site. Given the above, don’t be surprised at the substantial installer file size (over 200MB).

dotcms installer.png
Configuring ports in a dotCMS installation

According to the release notes, dotCMS can run on Windows XP/Vista/7/200x Server and requires 1GB of free RAM and 500MB of free hard drive space.

dotCMS can work with four different database types. You can configure those parameters and/or add new databases by modifying the ROOT.xml file in the dotCMS directory under \conf\Catalina\localhost.

Note that dotCMS will not automatically create the database for you, but it will create the schema and the starter site.

Want to give it a try? The Windows installer is available for download here. Alternatively, watch this how-to video before doing the install yourself.