nstalling and Configuring ionCube Loader in Hestia CP

Hestia CP is one of the most popular, simple, and user-friendly control panels for server management. It allows you to add new sites, work with email and databases, configure Cron tasks, manage updates, use the file manager, and add SSL certificates.

To start the installation process, connect to the server via SSH terminal and run the following command. It will automatically navigate to the home directory, download the archive with the extension files, extract it, and list the files:

cd /home; wget downloads.ioncube.com/loader_downloads/ioncube_loaders_lin_x86-64.zip; unzip ioncube_loaders_lin_x86-64.zip; cd ioncube/; ls -lh 

cd /home; wget downloads.ioncube.com/loader_downloads/ioncube_loaders_lin_x86-64.zip; unzip ioncube_loaders_lin_x86-64.zip; cd ioncube/; ls -lh 
--2023-02-24 16:20:22-- http://downloads.ioncube.com/loader_downloads/ioncube_loaders_lin_x86-64.zip
Resolving downloads.ioncube.com (downloads.ioncube.com)... 192.241.136.243
Connecting to downloads.ioncube.com (downloads.ioncube.com)|192.241.136.243|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, waiting for response... 200 OK
Length: 14635181 (14M) [application/zip]
Saving to: 'ioncube_loaders_lin_x86-64.zip.2'

ioncube_loaders_lin_x86-64. 100%[===========================================>] 13.96M 422KB/s in 19s     

2023-02-24 16:20:42 (745 KB/s) - 'ioncube_loaders_lin_x86-64.zip.2' saved [14635181/14635181]

Archive: ioncube_loaders_lin_x86-64.zip

replace ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_5.0.so? [y]es, [n]o, [A]ll, [N]one, [r]ename: All
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_5.0.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_4.3.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_7.0_ts.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_4.2.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_5.6.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_7.1.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_5.3.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_7.3_ts.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_5.5_ts.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_5.4.so  
  inflating: ioncube/loader-wizard.php  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_4.3_ts.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_5.5.so  
  inflating: ioncube/LICENSE.txt     
  inflating: ioncube/USER-GUIDE.pdf  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_5.4_ts.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_7.4_ts.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_7.0.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_5.3_ts.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_4.4.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_4.4_ts.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_7.4.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_7.3.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_7.1_ts.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_7.2_ts.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_5.2.so  
  inflating: ioncube/USER-GUIDE.txt  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_4.1.so  
  inflating: ioncube/README.txt      
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_5.1_ts.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_7.2.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_8.1.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_5.0_ts.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_8.1_ts.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_5.1.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_5.6_ts.so  
  inflating: ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_5.2_ts.so  

The extension is installed separately for each PHP version on the server.

Use the following command to find the directory where the extension file should be placed. Pay attention to the version number in the command — before running it, replace it with your PHP version for which you are installing the extension:

php7.4 -i | grep "PHP Extension"

Copy the extension file to the directory with all other extensions. In this command, replace the highlighted parts with your PHP version and the extensions directory path:

cp ioncube_loader_lin_7.4.so /usr/lib/php/20190902

Create the 00-ioncube.ini file with the required entry in the configuration directory of the needed PHP version. Replace the PHP version with your own:

echo zend_extension=ioncube_loader_lin_7.4.so > /etc/php/7.4/fpm/conf.d/00-ioncube.ini

Optional: to enable the extension in the console version of PHP, place a similar file in the CLI directory:

echo zend_extension=ioncube_loader_lin_7.4.so > /etc/php/7.4/cli/conf.d/00-ioncube.ini

Restart the PHP service for the required version:

service php7.4-fpm restart

This completes the installation.

Now you can check if the module is activated for your chosen PHP version using the phpinfo test script:

Or via the command:

php7.4 -v

PHP 7.4.33 (cli) (built: Feb 14 2023 18:01:29) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.4.0, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
    with the ionCube PHP Loader + ionCube24 v12.0.5, Copyright (c) 2002-2022, by ionCube Ltd.
    with Zend OPcache v7.4.33, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

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