Magento Database Setup Notes

These are some setup notes for setting up a test/development instance of Magento, using an existing database against a fresh installation of the source code on a staging server.

Use HeidiSQL or MySQL Workbench (both free) to edit the data in the Magento MySQL database tables. These notes assume that you have already installed the Magento source code in '/magentoroot' and configured folder permissions.

* Modify database connection settings in application configuration.

File Name: /magentoroot/app/etc/local.xml

  <connection>
    <host><![CDATA[localhost]]></host>
    <username><![CDATA[johndoe]]></username>
    <password><![CDATA[12345]]></password>
    <dbname><![CDATA[storedb]]></dbname>
    <active>1</active>
  </connection>

* Manually add user to Magento admin_user table

  password = select CONCAT(MD5('qXpassword'), ':qX')
  lognum = 0
  reload_acl_flag = 0
  is_active = 1
  extra = copy from an existing record (or leave blank?)

* Manually add role to Magento admin_role table

parent_id = 1
tree_level = 2
sort_order = 0
role_type = U
user_id = id of new user created above
role_name = name of user created above

* Modify settings in Magento core_config_data table
  The important settings are listed below.

web/unsecure/base_url = http://www.yourserver.com
web/secure/base_url = https://www.yourserver.com

If SSL is not available, then set the web/secure/base_url to be 
the same as web/unsecure/base_url.  Otherwise, Magento
will redirect automatically when you try to view the website
and/or administration panel.  The following settings will disable
the requirement for SSL:

web/secure/use_in_adminhtml = 0
web/secure/use_in_frontend = 0

* Go through the core_config_data and erase the API keys 
  and set all email addresses to a development email address.

* Reset the cache - This is a very important step that
  should not be forgotten. Be careful with this command -
  it will erase all folder/files in the specified folder!

rm -rf /magentoroot/var/cache/*

* Log into the admin site:

Go to: http://www.yourserver.com/index.php/acc/

If these core_config_data settings are other than 
what is shown below, then the URL to the admin
panel may be different:

admin/url/use_custom = 0
admin/url/custom = ''

Now you should have a test installation of your Magento store.