Mambo Web Hosting

Mambo Web Hosting

Mambo is by far one of the leading CMS (Content Management System) software available today and is used to create and manage websites through a simple web interface. This open source CMS software has attracted many users all over the world primarily due to its user-friendly and advanced features. Mambo is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) Version 2. The rights to the Mambo CMS codebase, name and copyrights, are protected by the Mambo Foundation, a non-profit corporation formed to support and promote the Mambo Open Source project. The Mambo Foundation is a non-profit entity established under the laws of Australia. The focus of the Mambo foundation is to further and nurture the development of the Mambo system and to shelter the project from threats and misuse.

This software offers an array of advanced features to suit various requirements ranging from simple websites to more complex and detailed corporate applications. Below is a brief outline of its key features offered:

• It features a large and robust user and developer community.
• Offers basic level of content approval for registered users.
• Online help is available.
• It offers page caching mechanism in order to improve performance on busy web sites.
• Trash manager is available.
• Provides advertising management like banners etc.
• Provides upload and management of media (images, documents) etc.
• Content display scheduling.
• Content Syndication.
• URLs are search engine friendly.
• Internationalization (interface translation).
• Content macro language (also known as mambots).
• An advanced and a separate system administration system is provided.
• Advanced package/add-on/template deployment system is available.
• A powerful yet simple template system is available (written mostly in HTML, no complex templating syntax to learn, just a couple of PHP functions to include).
• Heirarchial user access groups.
• Basic visitor statistics.
• Multiple WYSIWYG content editor support.
• Simple polls are available.
• Content voting/rating system.

Mamboforge.net offers many more free add-ons that include:

• LDAP authentication.
• Extended user profiles.
• Forums.
• Media galleries.
• Document managers.
• Templates.
• Events calendar and many more attractive features.

An online demo of the software is also available for view through their own demo server for users to get the feel of it and understand the rather simple features. Mambo is free of cost and copyright protected. The user needs to however meet a few basic requirements in order to get the Mambo site running with optimum efficiency. Mambo is thoroughly tested on Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X and Windows NT/2000/XP. Linux or one of the BSD’s are highly recommended. However, any of the following softwares should work just as well with it:

1. Apache (version 1.3.19 or above)
2. MySQL (version 3.23.x or above)
3. PHP (version 4.2.x or above).

The user needs to ensure that PHP has been compiled with support for MySQL and Zlib for Mambo to successfully function. Over the years, Mambo CMS has gained considerable popularity and garnered enough favoritism for itself. Validating the above, it has won many awards for its efficient utilities; some of which include “Best Open Source Solution”, LinuxWorld Sydney, Australia; “Best Open Source Solution”, LinuxWorld San Francisco 2005; “Best of Show – Total Industry Solution”, LinuxWorld Boston 2005; ” Best Open Source Solution”, LinuxWorld Boston 2005; “Best Linux or Open Source Software”, LinuxUser & Developer 2004; and “Best Free Software Project of the Year”, Linux Format Magazine 2004. There are many hosting providers out there who deliver optimum services. Hosting providers that especially specialize in hosting Mambo and can help users experience a smooth installation and other related processes are listed below:

• AN Hosting
• midPhase
• bluehost
• POWWEB
• SITE GROUND

MamboXchange.com provides an ideal platform as a free development and distribution environment for the Mambo community to host components, templates, plug-ins, modules and anything related to Mambo. The focus here remains to provide free project management and download environment for Mambo related projects. At MamboXchange.com; users can exhibit their developed components, written modules or template designs to the entire community. It also allows users to run and manage their projects by providing access to CVS, forums, bug trackers, documentation manager, task lists, surveys, documentation, news and a file release system. However, at MamboXchange; this service is currently offered only to non commercial projects. Users can view the online Mambo demo to get an initial feel of the software as well as familiarize themselves with the related features. It offers some very attractive templates at no charge at all and new templates are frequently added. A wide variety of templates caters to various website requirements ranging from personal websites, general, IT business related to Real Estate or E-Commerce. Users can also add their own templates designed by them and hence contribute to the diversity. Team Mambo has recently released the Security Patch 2 for Mambo version 4.5.4. This patch fixes a number of security vulnerabilities and provides some additional hardening of the application. It is recommended that everyone apply this patch as soon as possible for additional security. SiteGround web hosting company has partnered with Mambo and offers the Mambo hosting pack with rich hosting features and is rated as the number one Mambo host. Just recently Packt Publishing presented “Mastering Mambo” which is an advanced level guide to customizing and extending Mambo in terms of creating custom layouts, modules, Mambots, set up an e-commerce store, and more. Other guidelines and tips include how to make your site multilingual, accessible, and optimized for speed and search engines, get to master DOCMAN, the document manager for Mambo and turn your Mambo site into a dynamic repository of shared documents and files.