System Requirements

Document Version: 1.0.0
Last Updated: 2026-01-02
Applies To: ComusThumbz v1.11.14+

Overview

This document outlines all system requirements for running ComusThumbz successfully. Meeting these requirements ensures optimal performance, security, and full feature availability.

Quick Compatibility Check

Minimum vs Recommended

PHP Requirements

PHP Version

Required PHP Extensions

The following extensions MUST be installed and enabled:

Recommended PHP Extensions

These extensions enable additional features:

Enabling Missing Extensions

Ubuntu/Debian:

# Install common extensions

sudo apt-get install php8.3-gd php8.3-curl php8.3-mbstring php8.3-mysql php8.3-xml php8.3-zip php8.3-imagick

Restart PHP-FPM

sudo systemctl restart php8.3-fpm

CentOS/RHEL:

# Install common extensions

sudo yum install php-gd php-curl php-mbstring php-mysql php-xml php-zip php-pecl-imagick

Restart PHP-FPM

sudo systemctl restart php-fpm

cPanel/WHM:
Navigate to WHM > Software > EasyApache 4 > Customize > PHP Extensions

Required PHP Functions

Core Functions

Checking Disabled Functions

<?php
// Check which functions are disabled
$disabled = explode(',', iniget('disablefunctions'));
$required = ['exec', 'shellexec', 'passthru', 'procopen', 'popen'];

echo "Disabled functions check:\n";
foreach ($required as $func) {
$status = inarray($func, $disabled) ? '❌ DISABLED' : '✅ OK';
echo "$func: $status\n";
}
 ?>

Enabling Functions

Method 1: Edit php.ini directly

# Find your php.ini

php --ini

Edit the file

sudo nano /etc/php/8.3/fpm/php.ini

Find this line:

disablefunctions = exec,passthru,shellexec,system,procopen,popen...

Remove the functions you need (exec, shellexec, passthru, procopen, popen)

Restart PHP-FPM

sudo systemctl restart php8.3-fpm

Method 2: HestiaCP

1. Log in to HestiaCP admin panel
2. Go to Server > Configure > PHP (select your PHP version)
3. Find disablefunctions directive
4. Remove required functions from the list
5. Click Save
6. Restart PHP-FPM: systemctl restart php8.3-fpm

Method 3: cPanel/WHM

Log in to WHMGo to MultiPHP INI EditorSelect your domain or use Editor Mode

1. Find disablefunctions and remove required functions
2. Save changes

php.ini Configuration

Required Settings

Additional Recommended Settings

Example php.ini Settings

; ComusThumbz Recommended Settings
memorylimit = 512M
maxexecutiontime = 600
uploadmaxfilesize = 500M
postmaxsize = 500M
maxinputvars = 10000
maxfileuploads = 50

; Security
displayerrors = Off
logerrors = On
errorlog = /path/to/ct/logs/php-error.log

; Session Security
session.cookiesecure = On
session.cookiehttponly = On
session.cookiesamesite = Lax
session.gcmaxlifetime = 86400

; Timezone
date.timezone = America/NewYork

External Tools

FFmpeg (Required)

Installing FFmpeg:

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install ffmpeg

Verify installation

ffmpeg -version
ffprobe -version

CentOS/RHEL:

# Enable EPEL and RPM Fusion repositories

sudo yum install epel-release

sudo yum localinstall --nogpgcheck https://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/el/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %rhel).noarch.rpm

Install FFmpeg

sudo yum install ffmpeg ffmpeg-devel

Verify

ffmpeg -version

Windows (Development):

1. Download from https://ffmpeg.org/download.html
2. Extract to C:\ffmpeg
3. Add C:\ffmpeg\bin to system PATH
4. Verify: ffmpeg -version

Configuring FFmpeg Path:
In ct/dat/config.inc.php:

$ffmpegpath = '/usr/bin/ffmpeg';   // Linux default

$ffprobepath = '/usr/bin/ffprobe'; // Linux default

ImageMagick (Recommended)

ImageMagick provides higher-quality image processing than GD.

Installing ImageMagick:

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt install imagemagick php-imagick

sudo systemctl restart php8.3-fpm

CentOS/RHEL:

sudo yum install ImageMagick ImageMagick-devel php-pecl-imagick

sudo systemctl restart php-fpm

Configuring ImageMagick Path:
In Admin Panel > Settings > Settings Control Center:

• Set ImageMagick to "ImageMagick On"
• Set ImageMagick Path to /usr/bin/ (include trailing slash)

Database Requirements

MySQL / MariaDB

Required Privileges

The database user needs these privileges:

GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, CREATE, ALTER, DROP, INDEX,
      REFERENCES, CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES, LOCK TABLES, EXECUTE,
      CREATE VIEW, SHOW VIEW, CREATE ROUTINE, ALTER ROUTINE,
      EVENT, TRIGGER
ON yourdatabase. TO 'youruser'@'localhost';

Database Settings

Checking Database Version

SELECT VERSION();
-- Should return: 8.0.x or 10.x.x (MariaDB)

SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'charactersetserver';
 -- Should return: utf8mb4

Web Server Requirements

Apache

Minimum Version: 2.4+

Required Modules:

Enabling Modules:

sudo a2enmod rewrite headers expires deflate ssl

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Required .htaccess Support:
Ensure AllowOverride All is set for your document root:

<Directory /var/www/html>

    AllowOverride All

    Require all granted

</Directory>

Nginx

Minimum Version: 1.18+

Example Nginx Configuration:

server {

    listen 80;

    servername yourdomain.com;

    root /var/www/yourdomain.com;

    index index.php;

# REST API rewrite
location /ct/api/v1 {
tryfiles $uri $uri/ /ct/api/v1/index.php?$querystring;
}


# PHP processing
location ~ \.php$ {
fastcgipass unix:/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;
fastcgiparam SCRIPTFILENAME $documentroot$fastcgiscriptname;
include fastcgiparams;
}


# Security - deny access to sensitive files
location ~ /ct/dat/ {
deny all;
}


location ~ /ct/logs/ {
deny all;
}


# Media files
location ~ \.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|webp|mp4|webm|m3u8|ts)$ {
expires 30d;
addheader Cache-Control "public, immutable";
}
}

Folder Permissions

Critical Folders

These folders MUST be writable by the web server:

Setting Permissions (Linux)

# Navigate to your installation
cd /var/www/yourdomain.com

Set ownership (replace www-data with your web server user)

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data ct/

Set directory permissions

find ct/ -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;

Set file permissions

find ct/ -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;

Make upload/log directories writable

chmod -R 775 ct/logs ct/uploads ct/cache
chmod 777 ct/uploads/temp ct/uploads/temp/useruploads

Protect config file (readable by PHP, not world-writable)

chmod 644 ct/dat/config.inc.php

HestiaCP Permissions

For HestiaCP, the web server user is typically your domain user:

# Replace 'username' with your HestiaCP username

chown -R username:username /home/username/web/yourdomain.com/publichtml/ct/

chmod -R 755 /home/username/web/yourdomain.com/publichtml/ct/

chmod -R 775 /home/username/web/yourdomain.com/publichtml/ct/logs

chmod -R 775 /home/username/web/yourdomain.com/publichtml/ct/uploads

Cron Job Requirements

Required Cron Job

Only ONE cron job is required - the main site cron that handles all scheduled tasks:

# Main site cron - runs every minute

• php /path/to/ct/admin/cron/sitecron.php >> /path/to/ct/logs/cron/sitecron.log 2>&1

What the Site Cron Handles

The sitecron.php orchestrates all scheduled tasks including:

Setting Up Cron

Linux (crontab):

# Edit crontab

crontab -e

Add the main cron job

php /var/www/yourdomain.com/ct/admin/cron/sitecron.php >> /var/www/yourdomain.com/ct/logs/cron/sitecron.log 2>&1

cPanel:

1. Log in to cPanel
2. Go to Advanced > Cron Jobs
3. Set timing to (every minute)
4. Command: php /home/username/publichtml/ct/admin/cron/sitecron.php

Plesk:

1. Log in to Plesk
2. Go to Scheduled Tasks (Cron Jobs)
3. Add new task with the cron command

HestiaCP:

1. Log in via SSH as your user
2. Run crontab -e
3. Add the cron line

Verifying Cron is Running

# Check cron log
tail -f /path/to/ct/logs/cron/sitecron.log

Check for pending videos (should decrease over time if cron works)

mysql -u user -p database -e "SELECT COUNT() FROM tblVideos WHERE status='pending';"

HTTPS / SSL Requirements

Free SSL Options

Let's Encrypt Installation

# Install Certbot
sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-apache

Get certificate

sudo certbot --apache -d yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com

Auto-renewal is configured automatically

Disk Space Requirements

Minimum Requirements

Production Estimates

Network Requirements

Outbound Connections Required

Firewall Configuration

If you have a firewall, ensure these are allowed:

# Allow outbound HTTPS

sudo ufw allow out 443/tcp

Allow outbound HTTP (some APIs)

sudo ufw allow out 80/tcp

Allow outbound SMTP

sudo ufw allow out 587/tcp

Requirements Verification Script

Use this script to verify your server meets all requirements:

<?php
/*

ComusThumbz Requirements Check

• Save as checkrequirements.php and run via browser or CLI

 /

echo "<h2>ComusThumbz Requirements Check</h2>\n";
echo "<pre>\n";

// PHP Version
$phpOk = versioncompare(PHPVERSION, '8.0.0', '>=');
echo "PHP Version: " . PHPVERSION . " " . ($phpOk ? '✅' : '❌ Requires 8.0+') . "\n";

// Required Extensions
$extensions = ['pdo', 'pdomysql', 'mysqli', 'gd', 'curl', 'mbstring', 'json', 'session', 'fileinfo', 'openssl'];
echo "\nRequired Extensions:\n";
foreach ($extensions as $ext) {
$loaded = extensionloaded($ext);
echo " $ext: " . ($loaded ? '✅ OK' : '❌ MISSING') . "\n";
}

// Recommended Extensions
$recommended = ['imagick', 'zip', 'exif', 'intl'];
echo "\nRecommended Extensions:\n";
foreach ($recommended as $ext) {
$loaded = extensionloaded($ext);
echo " $ext: " . ($loaded ? '✅ OK' : '⚠️ Not installed') . "\n";
}

// Disabled Functions
$disabled = explode(',', iniget('disablefunctions'));
$requiredfuncs = ['exec', 'shellexec', 'passthru', 'procopen', 'popen'];
echo "\nRequired Functions:\n";
foreach ($requiredfuncs as $func) {
$available = !inarray(trim($func), arraymap('trim', $disabled)) && functionexists($func);
echo " $func(): " . ($available ? '✅ OK' : '❌ DISABLED') . "\n";
}

// php.ini Settings
$settings = [
'memorylimit' => ['min' => '256M', 'rec' => '512M'],
'maxexecutiontime' => ['min' => 300, 'rec' => 600],
'uploadmaxfilesize' => ['min' => '100M', 'rec' => '500M'],
'postmaxsize' => ['min' => '100M', 'rec' => '500M'],
];

echo "\nPHP Settings:\n";
foreach ($settings as $key => $values) {
$current = iniget($key);
echo " $key: $current";
if (isnumeric($values['min'])) {
echo " (min: {$values['min']}, rec: {$values['rec']})";
} else {
$currentBytes = returnbytes($current);
$minBytes = returnbytes($values['min']);
echo $currentBytes >= $minBytes ? ' ✅' : ' ❌';
}
echo "\n";
}

// External Tools
echo "\nExternal Tools:\n";
$ffmpeg = shellexec('which ffmpeg 2>/dev/null') ?: shellexec('where ffmpeg 2>NUL');
echo " FFmpeg: " . ($ffmpeg ? '✅ ' . trim($ffmpeg) : '❌ NOT FOUND') . "\n";

$ffprobe = shellexec('which ffprobe 2>/dev/null') ?: shellexec('where ffprobe 2>NUL');
echo " FFprobe: " . ($ffprobe ? '✅ ' . trim($ffprobe) : '❌ NOT FOUND') . "\n";

$convert = shellexec('which convert 2>/dev/null') ?: shellexec('where convert 2>NUL');
echo " ImageMagick: " . ($convert ? '✅ ' . trim($convert) : '⚠️ Not found (optional)') . "\n";

echo "</pre>\n";

function returnbytes($val) {
$val = trim($val);
$last = strtolower($val[strlen($val)-1]);
$val = (int)$val;
switch($last) {
case 'g': $val = 1024;
case 'm': $val = 1024;
case 'k': $val *= 1024;
}
return $val;
}
?>

Troubleshooting Requirements Issues

Videos Stuck in "Pending" Status

"Permission Denied" Errors

# Fix ownership

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /path/to/ct/

chmod -R 755 /path/to/ct/
chmod -R 775 /path/to/ct/logs /path/to/ct/uploads

Database Connection Failed

Changelog