Tiger Technologies Technical Support
Tiger Technologies Home Page
You are here: Support Start > Web Hosting Technical Information > Installing and Configuring Custom Scripts > PHP Scripts > ionCube Loader

Can I use scripts that require ionCube Loader?

Some PHP scripts are copy-protected ("encoded") using a system called ionCube PHP Encoder.

These scripts aren't like normal PHP scripts. In particular, it isn't possible to look at them and see how they work. Some software authors encode their scripts this way to prevent people from copying the script "code".

These kinds of scripts require that you also install a special, nonstandard piece of software (called "ionCube Loader") on your Web site.

In many cases, the script itself will include the ionCube Loader software. If the script doesn't include it, you can download ionCube Loader from the ionCube Web site and install it yourself to make encoded PHP scripts work properly.

On this page:

Limitations of ionCube Loader

Before you install ionCube Loader, we should explain these things:

  • ionCube Loader is not "open source". That means that nobody can view how it works, making it difficult to tell what's wrong if it doesn't work. If you have trouble with PHP scripts after enabling it, we probably won't be able to help you figure out the cause of the problem, unfortunately. You'd need to contact ionCube.
  • Similarly, when you install an encoded PHP script that requires ionCube Loader, we won't be able to see how that script is supposed to work, either. If you have trouble, your only option would be to contact the company that sold you the script.
  • There's a chance that when PHP is updated, your existing ionCube Loader software will not work with the new version. If that happens, your script will stop working and you'll have to install a newer version of ionCube Loader.
  • Finally, by using these kinds of scripts, you're tying yourself to the company that makes ionCube Loader. Your script will only work as long as ionCube continues to create versions of ionCube Loader that work with current versions of PHP.

In short: encoded scripts are more of a risk, and if they have problems, it may be more difficult for you to get help with those problems.

Because of that, we actually don't recommend using encoded scripts. However, we do recognize that sometimes there is no alternative to a particular script, and we provide the instructions below for such situations.

Installing ionCube Loader on your account

To install ionCube Loader, you should first download the ionCube Loader from their Web site onto your own computer. This is the direct download link for the correct file:

http://downloads2.ioncube.com/loader_downloads/ioncube_loaders_lin_x86.zip

(It's always possible that they could move the file on their Web site. If the link above doesn't work, visit the www.ioncube.com download page and download the "zip" archive for "Linux (x86)".)

After you download and expand that file on your computer, you should have a folder named "ioncube" on your disk. You'll simply publish (upload) this entire folder to the top level of your Web site.

Once the "ioncube" folder is on your Web site, any ionCube-encoded scripts anywhere on your site should work properly.

Having trouble?

If you're having trouble downloading the software and putting it on your Web site, we'll be glad to do this for our customers at no charge. Just contact us and mention that you'd like us to "install ionCube Loader" for your account. (This may take up to one business day, but will usually be less.)

If we install it for you, be careful that you don't delete the "ioncube" folder when you publish your Web site files.

Search


Related Topics

PHP Scripts

About FTP

Contacting Tiger Technologies