Eve Online Killboard Setup

Since the eve-dev website is down, and currently residing over at eve-id.net. And i saw a search string pop up in my blog stats dealing with how to create a killboard.  I thought i’d put together a quick howto on how to set up your very own eve killboard.  Note to anyone who wants to admin their own killboard: The original creator of the killboard no longer works on it, but a community of enthusiasts still maintain and update the killboard system. It’s a community effort to add new features and fix bugs, so there’s no one person incharge of anything (as of 20 March 09 anyway).

First here are some things you’ll need.
1) A host – some place on the web which is willing to let you have some space to put the killboard and the database that goes along with it.
2) A mySQL database backend (preferably at the same place as the host)
3) A schema on said database where the tables needed for the killboard to go.
4) PHP – your host must support PHP (PHP 5 is the most current as of this writing).

Ok, so lets get started!

First things first, you’ll want to make sure you have permissions to create new schemas on your database. What i usually do is create a user just for that one schema and then give it everything but grant privileges. If you have no idea what i’m talking about, i’d say to take a look here. That should get you started on your way to using mySQL and learning how to administer it.

You’ll need to log into your mysql console (if you have remote access to your host). From a terminal window in linux, or command prompt in windows, you’ll issue this command

#/> mysql -u root -p
you’ll be prompted for your root password. enter it and press enter.

Typically, once you’re logged into the mysql console you’ll issue these commands like so:

mysql > CREATE DATABASE killboard;
mysql > GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, CREATE, DROP ON killboard.* TO ‘user’@’localhost’ IDENTIFIED BY ‘password’;

The schema name for the killboard in this example is ‘killboard’. Notice that i’ve used ‘user’ for the username and ‘password’ for the password for the user. You’ll want to change this to something else, unless of course you don’t mind leaving your stuff insecure. Also, it’s a good idea to leave the host as localhost, since that’s typically where the killboard and database will reside, there on the local machine. This will also keep anyone from using your login credentials from a remote system if they do happen to get your information.

If you don’t have remote access, you may have a cpanel or somesuch that you can log into. You’ll want to create your new database and user with that. Making sure the new user has permissions for the new database.

Once you have your schema set up (there should be no tables in it yet). You’re ready to get the files needed and upload them to your server space. You can get the latest version of the killboard here. If that doesn’t work (as they may have gotten a new host), you can always google for ‘Eve Dev Killboard’. That should get you good results.

After you’ve downloaded the full install (not an update, unless of course you’re updating your killboard, in which case why are you reading this, since you should already know what to do) you’ll want to untar the package, this can be easily done with WinRAR (for windows and my personal favorite) or using tar -zxvf (in linux). After the extraction is complete, you’re ready to upload the files to your host.

Before you commence with the uplaod, think about where you want to put your killboard. Will it be the first page everyone sees? or do you want to put it in another directory? Personally i like having everything in it’s own directory, so for sake of arguement we’ll use /kb (meaning the address will look like http://some.host.com/kb).

You’ve created your directory and uploaded all the files there, you’ll browse to http://your.host.com/kb/install. From there you’ll have on screen instructions, which should be easy enough to follow. You’ll need to know the schema name, username, and password for your database connection, and your Eve Corporation or Alliance name. Other than that it’s very automated and easy to use.

If you do have trouble and need assistance, you can head over to eve-id.net(or whatever site they’re at now, if that one is no longer valid) and go to the forums. Pretty much if you’re having an issue, someone else has already had it and there’s a solution there.

Once everything is complete, make sure to delete the install directory and follow all the other security suggestions the installer gives you.  Now you’re ready to start posting those kills! Good job!

😀

Example Killboard (actually my corps’):Legion of Black Mesa’s Killboard
For the new Apocrypha updates check out this pack someone put together: Full Package Download [Current Ver: 1.6 Apoc 1.1 Content]

A good hint: Keep an eye on the EDK Forums; mods, updates, and new features are being added all the time!

For you WordPress pod pilot bloggers: Killboard plugin for WordPress. Looks like a neat feature to add.

EDITS:

-I thought i should show an example of that the killboard should look like after it’s finished.
-I added in some more detailed instructions for the database creation. Sorry to those that read this before and didn’t get what i was talking about. I tend to be a bit vague sometimes.
-Thanks to the comment by Dave I’ve updated the permissions needed by the user to include UPDATE. It would be silly not to be able to update a record 😛
-Added links to the EDK Forums, especially to the Apocrypha release pack.
-Added link to Zaine’s wordpress killboard widget plugin.