General: Installation - Magento 1

Planning on upgrading?

Read more if you're thinking of upgrading your existing Magento connector.

Overview

The Dotdigital for Magento connector 1.0/2.0 can be installed in various ways, and these are outlined further below. Firstly though this article begins with guidelines for a pre-installation health check to ensure all goes as well as possible before, during and after installation. 

Pre-installation health check

Please note that this extension is provided as is. Our recommendation is to always backup your installation prior to use.

Versions and compatibility

The Dotdigital for Magento connector is compatible with both Community and Enterprise platforms of Magento.

For Community, we’re compatible with:

1.6.1 +

For Enterprise, we’re compatible with:

1.11.1 +

Conflicts

While every site is different, the connector could potentially come into conflict with other extensions.

For instance, other extensions using namespace could conflict with front name 'connector' previously used to access dynamic content, which is pulled from the site on a send.

Abandon cart extensions and other SMTP tools could also possibly come into conflict with the connector, and this makes it important to state these during the installation process.

Please note: Core rewrite conflicts with Newsletter\Model\Subscriber.php, Customer\Model\Customer.php, Core\Model\Email\Template.php

Cron installation and Dotdigital tasks

The Dotdigital for Magento connector has several cron tasks attached with the install to ensure the connector functions correctly.

Below are the current tasks and their timings:

• ddg_automation_abandonedcarts - at five minute intervals
• ddg_automation_campaign - at five minute intervals
• ddg_automation_catalog_sync - at 15 minute intervals
• ddg_automation_cleaner – on the 1st of every month
• ddg_automation_customer_subscriber_guest_sync - at 15 minute intervals
• ddg_automation_importer - at five minute intervals
• ddg_automation_order_and_quote_sync - at 15 minute intervals
• ddg_automation_reviews_and_wishlist - at 15 minute intervals
• ddg_automation_status - at 15 minute intervals

The cron heartbeat should be running every five minutes to action the required tasks and the synchronisation of data into the Dotdigital account. The connector is unable to function correctly without it.

File permissions on var/export

File permissions on your site are an important part of the connector being able to write imports to be sent over to Dotdigital.

The connector will require full access (0777) to the var/export/email and var/export/email/archive directory or full access to the CRON user running on the server.

UAT and sandbox environments

We recommend testing any new deploys/extensions within sandbox/UAT environments, enabling you to check the compatibility with your site and other extensions you may have installed.

For UAT and sandbox environments, you should check the types of your contact data fields in Dotdigital plus any possible firewall restrictions for API calls, i.e. when connecting an API user between Dotdigital and Magento.

You can do this by creating a separate trial account of Dotdigital.

Resetting tables after installation

If you want to, or need to, completely reset all of your Dotdigital tables after install, you can do so. It will have the same effect as performing a fresh install.

Warning

Resetting tables is an extremely critical operation and should only be done when your site is in maintenance mode.

Click Run Now and all tables will be removed, recreated and all data in them will be refilled anew.

This is found by going to System > Configuration > DOTMAILER > Developer and clicking on 'Sync Settings'.

Installing the Magento connector using Magento Connect

Before you can enjoy all of these benefits, however, you must first successfully install the connector. To do this, follow the steps below:

1. Log in to your Magento account and locate the Magento Connect store within their site; this is Magento's extensions marketplace. Search for 'Dotdigital' in the extensions search box in the top right corner of this page. This will find the Dotdigital connector for you (alternatively, click on the links provided in 'General - Getting started'). Clicking on the title will take you through to the connector's details page.
2. Click on Install Now, accept the terms and conditions, and then click on Get Extension Key. Copy the extension key to your clipboard.
3. Return to your Magento admin panel and go to System (along the top navigation bar) > Magento Connect > Magento Connect Manager.
   
   
   
   You will be asked to log in again with your Magento Administration Credentials.
   
   
4. You'll then go through to the 'Extensions' page. Look under 'Settings' and untick the appropriate box to put your store into maintenance mode, then paste the extension key into the appropriate field under 'Install New Extensions', followed by clicking Install.
5. At this point, the information will appear allowing you to check whether you're installing the latest version of the connector. If this is correct, click Proceed and the installation will begin.
6. The panel at the foot of the page will indicate when the process is complete by confirming that the cache has been cleaned successfully. After this has been confirmed, click Refresh to refresh the cache and then return to the Magento admin panel. You will be required to log out of the admin panel and then log back in to complete the installation.
7. Confirm the installation has completed correctly by visiting System > Configuration and then locating your new DOTMAILER configuration section in the left-hand menu.
   
   
   
   Select the API Credentials; if this loads correctly, the install has worked.

Installing the connector via Modman without migrating data

By default, the installation script will automatically populate the extension table with the environment data (customer, subscribers, orders, products, review and wishlists). This operation needs to be done once and is necessary to get your extension up and running.

You may want to perform this migration operation at a later stage, perhaps when your site activity is at its lowest. To do this you will need to specify that you want to skip the migration step and here is how you can do it:

1. Enable your cache. This is to ensure install scripts don't run as soon as the connector is installed.
2. Install the connector using Modman.
3. Set flag 'skip_data_install' in config.xml, if config isn't saved in the database or directly in the database using shell script.
4. Clear the cache, which will then trigger the install schema.

Installing the connector using Magento connect via direct package upload without migrating data

1. Decompress the package file, if you're using the XML option to set flag.
2. Set flag 'skip_data_install' in config.xml, if config isn't saved in the database or directly in the database using shell script.
3. If you're using the XML option to set flag, compress the package file again.
4. Install the connector using Magento connect.

Working with the install shell script

Go to <magento-root>/shell director. Run command in cli 'php ddg.php help' to see usage options.

To enable flag 'skip migrate data', run php ddg.php --enable-skip-migrate-data-flag.

To disable flag 'skip migrate data', run php ddg.php --disable-skip-migrate-data-flag.

To show 'skip migrate data flag status', run php ddg.php --status-skip-migrate-data-flag.

To set query batch size for migrating data, run php ddg.php --set-query-batch-size <batchSize>. For example, a batch size of 1000 should look like php ddg.php --set-query-batch-size 1000.

To show query batch size set in database for migrating data, run php ddg.php --show-query-batch-size

To migrate data manually, run php ddg.php --migrate-data

Installing the Magento 1.0 connector via FTP

1. Go to our official Magento 1.0 public repository - https://github.com/dotmailer/dotmailer-magento-extension.
2. Download it as a ZIP.
3. Unzip the file.
4. Drop/move all of the source folder content inside the unzipped file into the corresponding destination folders - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dotmailer/dotmailer-magento-extension/testing/modman.
5. Clear cache or disable the cache before installing the extension.
6. Log out for the ACL to update.
7. Log in again.

Please comment underneath with any questions you may have.