# Mambo Open Source/Placing the files

* TOC
* Chapters
* Home
* Configuration
* Design
* Content
* Development
* Miscellaneous
For Mambo to work, you need to place the files in a supported environment. There are several options available; this article explains the two main options.

## Local

If you have a server system compatible with Mambo on the same computer that you work on, this is called local placement of files. It means that you place the files the same location as you are placing them from. Follow this link for more information about server and system requirements.
The only thing you will need to know is the root folder of your server – place Mambo within this folder. The correct location varies depending on your platform:
* MSAS – C:/Program Files/MSAS/http_root/www
* Linux – www/public_html/
* Mac OS X – /Library/WebServer/Documents
* Apache on windows – C:/Program Files/Apache Group/htdocs
This root folder will be the folder that opens when entering the server – in a local setting this is mostly done by entering "localhost" or the corresponding IP, "127.0.0.1", as a URL. If you place Mambo in a folder called "cool" inside your server root (e.g. C:/Program Files/MSAS/http_root/www/cool), you will have to enter "localhost/cool" in your browser to visit your "cool" Mambo website.

## Remote

This explains the process of moving the files from your local computer to a remote location.

### Getting and FTP program and connect

Remote placement of files means that the files will be placed somewhere other than on your own computer. To do this, you will need a program that allows you to, and in this case an FTP program will be suitable. There are many good free FTP programs available, here are some recomendations:
* FileZilla
* ws_ftp – standard specs FTP client.
* SmartFTP – lots of advanced features, such as secure connections.
After installing the program, you will need to set it up for connection to the remote location. You must have the correct access information for this (i.e. username and password), and you also need to know how to use this data properly in the FTP program. This varies from program to program, but usually it is something like this:
* Enter your username in the username field
* Enter your password in the password field
* Enter the address to the remote location in the address field
* Press connect!
This should solve your problem, but if it doesn't, contact the owner of the remote location, usually a webhost, and ask for details about FTP connections.

### Transfer the files to the remote location

After setting up a proper connection to the remote location, you will need to transfer the files to it. The way this is done varies very much from server to server, and there are many ways of doing it. This is a very common explanation of how it should be done that may not fit exactly to all cases.
Once you log in to the remote location via the FTP program, you will probably get a list of folders. This may be public_html, public_ftp, cgi-bin and www. This is different from server to server. Anyway, almost all servers have one of these or both: public_html and www. It should not matter which of these folders you put the content in – they are usually overlapping each other.
This folder is called the root of the site. When you enter the site by its URL, you see the content of the root folder. If you have a website there, it will show! Take a look at these examples:
* www.domain.com takes you to public_html
* www.domain.com/folder takes you to public_html/folder
* folder.domain.com sometimes return public_html/folder too – it depends on how the server is configured.
When you place Mambo into this, you should place the files directly to the public_html or www folder. Mambo supports installation on subfolders, so if that is what you need then do it – but usually you don't want this, the Mambo site should simply appear when your visitor types www.domain.com.