SME Server and its underlying CentOS setup do not include Ion Cube PHP Loader by default.

There is no ‘yum install ion cube’ option either due to the proprietary licence. However, there is a free download available from Ion Cube and its a quick install.

Installing ionCube Loader:

1. Download the program to your server using wget
[bash]#wget http://downloads2.ioncube.com/loader_downloads/ioncube_loaders_lin_x86.tar.gz
[/bash]
2. Unpack the program
[bash]#tar -zxvf ioncube_loaders_lin_x86.tar.gz[/bash]
3. This will probably be in your home directory or /root depending on your access to the SME Server. Move the ion cube directory to somewhere more appropriate:
[bash]# mv ioncube /opt/[/bash]
3. Go to the ion cube directory
[bash]# cd /opt/ioncube[/bash]
4.Copy these files to your SME Server Primary website *
[bash]# cp *.php /home/e-smith/files/ibays/Primary/html/[/bash]
5. Open this in your browser window
[bash]http://yourserver_url/ioncube-loader-helper.php[/bash]

and see something like this……

6. Now the issue is really not the install but the templating of the /etc/php.ini in SME Server. I’ll assume that you have NOT modified the standard php.ini previously. If you have then skip the obvious directory creation step.
[bash]# mkdir -p /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/php.ini
# cd /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/php.ini
# touch 70ZendIonCube
[/bash]

7. We now have a template component file ready for editing. I like mcedit – part of the midnight commander suite – but you can use pico or vi or your favourite editor to edit the content as:
[bash]zend_extension = /opt/ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_4.3.so[/bash]
Save the file and exit your editor. The purpose of this is to preserve the customisation of the system when SME Server updates are installed.

8. Prepare the update to the php.ini from the templates
[bash]# /sbin/e-smith/expand-template /etc/php.ini[/bash]

9. Restart Apache
[bash]# apachectl graceful[/bash]

10. Refresh the browser window for the IonCube page and you should see

…. and that should give you an operating Ion Cube PHP loader on SME Server 7.4