Genius SMS

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cPanel / Shared Hosting Installation ​

This guide walks you through installing Genius SMS on a shared hosting account that uses cPanel. Most popular hosting providers (Namecheap, Hostinger, SiteGround, GreenGeeks, etc.) use cPanel.

Before you start — Shared hosting must support PHP 8.3 and allow SSH terminal access (or at minimum allow running Composer). If your host only offers PHP 7.x, you cannot run this application.

What You Need ​

  • A hosting account with cPanel access
  • SSH / Terminal access (check your cPanel for "Terminal" under Advanced)
  • PHP 8.3 enabled for your account
  • A domain or subdomain pointed to your hosting

Step 1 — Create a MySQL Database ​

  1. Log into cPanel.
  2. Go to MySQL Databases.
  3. Under Create New Database, enter a name (e.g. youruser_geniussms) and click Create Database.
  4. Under MySQL Users, create a new user with a strong password.
  5. Under Add User to Database, add the new user to the new database and grant All Privileges.

Write down:

  • Database name
  • Database username
  • Database password
  • Host (usually localhost)

Step 2 — Set PHP Version to 8.3 ​

  1. In cPanel, go to MultiPHP Manager (or PHP Selector / Select PHP Version).
  2. Find your domain in the list.
  3. Set the PHP version to 8.3.
  4. Save.

Also go to MultiPHP INI Editor and set:

memory_limit = 256M
upload_max_filesize = 50M
post_max_size = 50M
max_execution_time = 300

Step 3 — Upload the Application Files ​

Option A — Upload via File Manager (no SSH needed for upload) ​

  1. Download the Genius SMS release ZIP from GitHub.
  2. In cPanel, open File Manager.
  3. Navigate to your home directory (/home/yourusername/).
  4. Create a new folder called genius-sms (outside public_html — this is important for security).
  5. Upload the ZIP file into genius-sms and extract it.

Your structure should look like:

/home/yourusername/
  genius-sms/          ← application files live here
    app/
    bootstrap/
    config/
    database/
    public/            ← this folder goes into public_html
    resources/
    storage/
    .env
    artisan
    composer.json
    ...
  public_html/         ← web root (currently empty or existing site)

Option B — Clone via SSH ​

If your host allows Git:

bash
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/xgenious/genius-sms.git genius-sms

Step 4 — Point Your Domain to the Public Folder ​

The Laravel public/ directory must be the web root for your domain. You have two options:

Option A — Use a Subdomain Pointed to the Public Folder ​

  1. In cPanel, go to Subdomains (or Addon Domains).
  2. Create a subdomain like school.yourdomain.com.
  3. Set the Document Root to /home/yourusername/genius-sms/public.
  4. Save.

Option B — Use Your Main Domain ​

  1. In cPanel, go to File Manager and open public_html.
  2. Move or copy everything from genius-sms/public/ into public_html/.
  3. Edit public_html/index.php — change the two paths at the top to point to your app folder:
php
require __DIR__.'/../genius-sms/vendor/autoload.php';
$app = require_once __DIR__.'/../genius-sms/bootstrap/app.php';
  1. Move the .htaccess from genius-sms/public/ into public_html/ as well.

Option A (subdomain) is simpler and recommended.

Step 5 — Configure the Environment File ​

In File Manager, navigate to /home/yourusername/genius-sms/.

  1. Find .env.example, copy it, and rename the copy to .env.
  2. Right-click .env and click Edit.

Update these values:

APP_NAME="Genius SMS"
APP_ENV=production
APP_DEBUG=false
APP_URL=https://school.yourdomain.com

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=localhost
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=youruser_geniussms
DB_USERNAME=youruser_dbuser
DB_PASSWORD=your_db_password

REDIS_HOST=127.0.0.1
REDIS_PORT=6379

CACHE_DRIVER=file
SESSION_DRIVER=file
QUEUE_CONNECTION=database

MAIL_MAILER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=mail.yourdomain.com
MAIL_PORT=587
MAIL_USERNAME=noreply@yourdomain.com
MAIL_PASSWORD=your_email_password
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS=noreply@yourdomain.com

SUPER_ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@yourdomain.com
SUPER_ADMIN_PASSWORD=your_admin_password

Note: On shared hosting, Redis may not be available. Use CACHE_DRIVER=file, SESSION_DRIVER=file, and QUEUE_CONNECTION=database as shown above.

Save the file.

Step 6 — Install PHP Dependencies via SSH ​

Open Terminal in cPanel (under Advanced → Terminal) or connect via SSH:

bash
ssh yourusername@yourdomain.com

Navigate to the app folder:

bash
cd ~/genius-sms

Install Composer dependencies:

bash
composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader

If Composer is not installed on the server, install it first:

bash
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
php composer.phar install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader

Step 7 — Generate Application Key ​

bash
php artisan key:generate

Step 8 — Run Migrations and Seeders ​

bash
php artisan migrate --force
php artisan db:seed --force

This creates all the database tables and sets up the initial super admin account.

Step 9 — Build Frontend Assets ​

If Node.js is available on your server:

bash
npm install
npm run build

If Node.js is not available on the server (common on shared hosting), build locally on your computer and upload the compiled files:

On your local machine:

bash
npm install
npm run build

Then upload the entire public/build/ folder to genius-sms/public/build/ on the server using File Manager or FTP.

Step 10 — Set File Permissions ​

In the SSH terminal:

bash
chmod -R 775 ~/genius-sms/storage
chmod -R 775 ~/genius-sms/bootstrap/cache

Or in File Manager: right-click the storage folder → Change Permissions → set to 755 recursively.

bash
cd ~/genius-sms
php artisan storage:link

This links public/storage to storage/app/public so uploaded files (logos, profile photos) are accessible.

Step 12 — Optimise for Production ​

bash
php artisan config:cache
php artisan route:cache
php artisan view:cache

Step 13 — Set Up Cron Job ​

See the Cron Job Setup guide to configure the Laravel scheduler in cPanel.

First Login ​

Open your browser and go to your domain (e.g. https://school.yourdomain.com).

Log in with:

  • Email: value of SUPER_ADMIN_EMAIL in your .env
  • Password: value of SUPER_ADMIN_PASSWORD

Updating the Application ​

When a new version is released:

bash
cd ~/genius-sms
git pull origin main

composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader

# Rebuild frontend (or upload the new public/build/ folder)
npm install && npm run build

php artisan migrate --force
php artisan config:cache
php artisan route:cache
php artisan view:cache

Troubleshooting ​

500 Internal Server Error ​

Check the Laravel log:

bash
tail -f ~/genius-sms/storage/logs/laravel.log

Also check cPanel → Error Logs.

"Class not found" or composer errors ​

bash
composer dump-autoload --optimize

Uploaded images not showing ​

bash
php artisan storage:link

Make sure the public/storage symlink exists.

.htaccess not working ​

In cPanel → File Manager, make sure the .htaccess file exists in your web root (public_html or the domain's document root). Enable Show Hidden Files in File Manager to see it.

Sessions or cache not working ​

On shared hosting, set CACHE_DRIVER=file and SESSION_DRIVER=file in .env — Redis is often not available.

Genius School Management System

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